Dead
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: I still wasn't quite sure what had happened but one thing was clear as hell. I was dead. Period. Warnings: AU, Character death, character torture, post-Tsubasa, NO spoilers. Rated for language and torture scenes.
1. Chapter 1

Dull lifeless orbs stare back at me as I leaned against the alley wall right next to the limp form.

It felt weird. Staring at that tan face, devoid of its ever present confident smirk. A look of utter shock was frozen in its place instead. Blood had trickled down the side of that face, from a wound received to the head. It had dried up by now.

I look at the bloodied silver sword and numerous black puddles surrounding the body and a frustrated sigh escapes my lips.

"Damn it all!"

I heard the silent unsteady sound of footfalls. Looking in the direction of its source, I spot a boy around the age of six, making his way over to where I was.

"You shouldn't be here, kid," I told him silently, watching him as he cautiously approached the limp form lying at a distance of just a couple of feet from me.

Curiosity overcame his fear as he crouched down, poking the lifeless body.

"Hey, mister, why are you sweeping here?" he asked with a slight lisp.

Apparently, he had not heard my voice. With a heavy sigh, I decided to watch what he would do.

He reached over and poked once again.

With a slight thud, the object on the receiving end of the little poke fell to its side.

Giving a surprised cry, the boy jumped to his feet, whirled around, and ran out of the place.

I kept looking in the direction he had vanished for quite some time, vaguely wondering how long it would be before someone else came looking.

My answer came in the form of an eighteen year old couple walking into the dark alley, hand in hand as the time neared sunset.

They began making out as soon as they were off the road.

A new question popped up in my head. How long till they notice the body?

It seemed, I didn't have to wait for long since only after a couple of kisses as the boy had pulled back, his red-headed girlfriend had turned her head in my direction.

I could see her body tense up only a few seconds after squinting through the darkness.

"Oh my god!" I heard her gasp in horror as her hands flew to her mouth. Her dark-haired boyfriend looked up to her face and followed the line of her sight. Only to turn chalk white at seeing what she was staring at.

"Call 911," the girl managed to get out.

The youth nodded dumbly before pulling out a contraption called the cell phone.

He spoke into it in urgent tones, casting wide-eyed, scared glances in my direction every now and then.

Soon enough an ambulance arrived, passerby's stopping at the sound of the commotion, curious to see what was going on.

Despite the din they were creating, I heard them.

The soft and timid questioning voice of _that_ girl, the smiling yet equally curious answer of that kid, a gentle and kind-hearted laughter of their supposed guardian and the shrill sound of their mascot and pet.

I heard them all loud and clear above all the other noises- the wailing sirens of the ambulance, the hysterically sobbing red-head and the frustrated raven-head's explanation to the cops.

My eyes settled on a group of four drifting near the edges of the crowd, talking in their happy, ignorant expression. They had no idea.

Not yet anyway.

It was the kid who saw it first- that cold, mangled, lifeless and bloody body. I saw him freeze up, the color drain from his face as his eyes widened in an expression of shock.

Even when the girl beside him asked what the matter was, he remained unmoving. Standing there as though he had been sculpted out of ice.

Next was their mentor, the blond one. Pushing past the crowd, in a trance like state, he moved closer. His face was frozen in a look of disbelief, lower lip trembling ever so slightly as he fell to his knees right next to me, choked, strangling sounds forming in his throat as he tried to from a word. Any word.

I heard, the green-eyed girl gasp, tears welling up in those huge, innocent eyes as her hands flew to her mouth.

"K-Kur… Kurogane…?" It was the white rabbit like creature that managed to speak. Though it was evident from its squeaky little voice that it refused to believe what it saw.

"I guess even the mighty have to fall one day," I said dully, looking back at the source of their horror.

There was a gaping hole in the chest. Blood, having long since flowed out and congealed up. The eyes remained open, unseeing, unmoving. The skin, once a tan, having now turned almost grey… pale… ashen…limbs and digits frozen…

With a sigh, I picked myself off of the grimy alley floor, walking over to the group of four now bent over the body. Casting a look over my shoulder, I realized that everyone else was just watching. Not even the medics or the cops were coming any closer.

Looking back at the four I had come to consider family, I felt a strange suffocating, smothering feeling grip at my heart.

The princess was sobbing into the kid's chest while the manju whimpered right next to my face. The mage…

Well, the mage's expression was unreadable, his bangs obscuring his face completely from my point of vantage. Though I could see his clenched fists and his limbs quivering lightly.

My mind reeled around eight hours back. Back when I had first seen myself.

The first thought that had run through my mind had been, _Shit!_

I had tried everything I could think of. Poking, prodding, shouting, yelling, cursing, hitting… nothing seemed to have worked.

My hands flew right through the people I had tried touch. My words unheard, my face unseen.

After several long hours, acceptance had wormed its way into my mind.

I still wasn't quite sure what had happened but one thing was clear as hell.

I was dead.

Period.

After some time, the officers moved in closer, moving them away from my corpse as they taped off the area, chalked it, and prodded my body as though I were some sort of _specimen. _Finally, after what seemed like hours, they covered my ghastly face with a tarp, throwing me on a stretcher and sliding me into the back of the ambulance.

Fay, even though if he was annoying as hell and still very closed up, was the man who I had come to look upon as my brother and my best friend over this crazy journey.

The blond bent down to retrieve my fallen, bloodstained sword.

Funny thing really, that the cops overlooked that piece of evidence. (Note the sarcasm)

I was finally able to see his face as he raised his head and stared at the silently crying children.

A single tear had trailed down his face, though now it was set in fierce determination. A strange emotion I had never before seen lurking in his cold, steely blue eyes.

"Kuro-tan was…" he trailed off, unable to voice his thoughts since maybe he felt that doing so would be the final proclamation of my death.

I watched them in complete silence, knowing they wouldn't be able to hear me anyway as one by one, they wiped their eyes. I could see the same emotion flickering in their eye's as I had with the mage.

"Fay-san," the small, sniffing sound of the princess was the first to break the silence.

"I know," he answered the unasked question.

"Fay-san," this time it was the kid who had spoken.

The next words that came out of Fay's mouth was a phrase, one statement uttered in silence, disappearing into this dark alleyway that was going to be the catalyst to trigger a string of events that would prove more damaging then prosperous.

Worry gripped at my heart for the safety of the ones who I cared about as I watched the blond magician. His face set in a ferocious resolve, one I had normally witnessed on the face of my apprentice as he seemed to look right at me.

"Don't worry," he whispered quietly, his fingers tightening their grip around the hilt of my sword. "We'll get him… The one who did this… We'll make him _pay_."

-0-

_**A/N: Okay, so I finally killed Kurogane. Man I have one twisted mind. Maybe I should change my name to …**_

_**Nah. Way too long for my taste. ;)**_

_**Hope you enjoyed reading it since I sure did enjoy writing it.**_

_**Please leave a review.**_

_**PS. I know Sakura can see spirits but let's just ignore that little fact for the sake of this fic, ok?**_


	2. Chapter 2

My lungs are burning and my legs are screaming in protest. Rivulets of sweat are rolling down my skin, my drenched bangs clinging to my forehead and getting in my eyes. But despite the fact that I am beyond exhausted, I urge myself to run faster. My legs feel like jelly, making me fear that they might just give in under me any second. My breath is coming in short, rapid pants, as my lungs try to provide my body with as much oxygen as I require at the moment.

I take a sharp turn to the right, immediately turning into the small left side street, a few more feet and I turn right once again. I follow this zigzagging pattern in an attempt to throw my pursuers of my trail.

_At least everybody else is safe._ I think as I take yet another right. I seem to have ended up in a dark, narrow alleyway of sorts. The stench of garbage dumped in the bins in here makes my head spin, making my eyes water. I stagger back a few steps till my back collides with the alley wall. Still panting, I collapse on the grimy floor, not caring about the rotting matter all around me.

As my own breathing slows down, I finally notice the lack of sounds. Especially the ones made by multiple feet hitting the concrete floor as people ran.

_I managed to lose them._ I let out a relieved sigh between my sharp intakes of air, letting the back of my head collide with the wall. I close my eyes, trying not to think anything as I try to regain my breath.

Memories of the past few days rush into my head, making me feel the very well-known emotions of sadness, guilt and anger. But now, along with all these familiar feelings is a feeling that I had not felt in so long. It's something I thought I had long forgotten. Determination…

_They _will_ pay._ The single phrase that had been echoing in my head ever since that day is once more making its presence known in my mind.

"Find him!"

My eyes snap open at that yell.

They were back.

I inhale deeply, once, as I pick myself off the floor. My breathing had almost returned to normal by now.

"If it's a fight they want," I mumble as I widen the gap between my legs, bringing the palms of my hands together at the same time. "It's a fight they'll get." I narrow my eyes in hatred as the tingling sensation of the summoning magic strengthens in my palms.

A bright blue light emanates from them as I bring them apart, the cold, smooth blade of a sword appearing with it.

_**A/N: Hi everyone. At the request of a reader, I have decided to turn this one-shot into a multi chaptered fic.**_

_**Yes, I have started yet another story without finishing any of my other projects. Curse you plot bunnies!!**_

_***shot***_

_**Ahem. Well, anyhow, although a plot is developing in my head for his thing, I am still not going to update it till I get at least three reviews. Oh yeah. I have finally sunk to that level. **_

_**I'm sorry guys but you people leave me no choice whatsoever. I need Reviews Damnit! Is that too much to ask? Come on people, it doesn't take that long you know.**_

_**Btw, although this POV seems to fit all three male members of the TRC group, it is actually written for only one of them. *Smacks self on the head.* (duh!)**_

_**Anyhow, the next chapter will be dedicated to all those who can guess the identity of the narrator correctly. **_

_**Hint: Things are not always what they appear to be. ;)**_

_**Oh and before I forget, this was just an intro sort of thing for the fic. The next chapters if you people meet my demands will be much much longer.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Here's an update people. Even though I had asked for three reviews for the last chapter, I still got three for the whole story, so… Yeah.**_

_**This chapter is dedicated to There Was A Silence (who is the reason why I'm continuing this fic) and kim-onka (who even though guessed incorrectly, was someone who took out time to leave a review).**_

_**For those of you who are still wondering, the last chapter was in Fai's POV. **_

_**Now go ahead and enjoy the story.**_

"Just stay hidden and don't come out," the kid spoke in urgent tones as he helped the princess hide amongst the pile of wooden crates.

"Will you be okay?" she asked quietly once she had settled down in the gap he had created for her amongst the boxes. The girl sounded on the verge of tears. Well, that much was to be expected. They _were_ running for their lives, after all.

The kid was scared as hell. I could tell. The way he was searching around the dusty heap of trash for something. But I also knew that it wasn't his own life that he feared for. It was hers. He finally spotted whatever it was in one of the dank and dark corners of the building.

"I'll be fine," despite the fear that I could see in his eyes, he still managed to give her a comforting smile.

"Just wait here for me to get back, okay?" he asked. The same caring look on his face that I had seen countless times on the face of the other kid as he had looked at his own princess, back when we were still searching for her feathers. Back when I still had to kill that bastard. Back when… I was alive.

I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself.

Even after everything that I had gone through- which included saving multiple universes from complete destructions at the hands of a deranged psychopath among other things- I had still remained a fool. I had been defeated by a bunch of newbie magic users.

Pathetic…

They had taken my body back to Nihon for burial, two days after the police had found me. I had, obviously, tagged along. The look on Tomoyo-hime's face will haunt me for the rest of my life… well, afterlife. She had looked so utterly broken. I had feared that she would fall apart right before my eyes.

But she had somehow managed to keep it together. At least in front of everyone else, she had.

My funeral had been a quiet affair. It had only been, the kid, his princess, the mage, that poor manju bun and the royal family with their guards. My ashes were buried next to my mother's.

For the entire duration of the ceremony, Sakura had been sobbing into the kid's chest- who himself had been unable to keep his tears at bay. The manju bun had been openly wailing in Tomoyo-hime's lap as she, too, had cried silently. Everyone had shed tears. Even Souma and Ameteresu.

I guess my death had affected people more than I had imagined it would.

For some reason, after I had died, I had been unable to go away or move on to whatever place it is that dead people go to. So, I had taken it upon myself to follow them around. Watch over them, even if later on I discovered that there wasn't anything I could do to help them. But still, I had followed them around. Wherever they went, I went.

Which was why, I had seen them all cry. The princess, the manju, hell even the kid. All of them, except for _him_.

For some reason, the mage had been the only one who had not let even a single tear escape from his eyes. The last time I had seen him cry had been when he had seen my mangled, mutilated corpse in that alleyway. He had not broken down like I had suspected him to. No. He had simply watched on with an expressionless face as they had carved my name into the tombstone.

I could still see that steely resolve to find my killers. He had not wavered in the slightest bit. Which was why I feared for the idiot.

How far was he willing to go? I had some idea of that.

But at what cost? That I did not know.

After the funeral, he had tried to return Ginryuu to Tomoyo-hime, since I was no longer there to wield it, but she had turned him down and asked him to keep it with him instead.

He had complied with her wish, sealing it into his own arm, making a promise to find the bastards who had killed me, speaking pretty much in the same manner as he had, when he had first made it.

Tomoyo-hime had blessed them all before they left Nihon after only one day's stay in my home world. The kid and mage had decided beforehand to return the princess to Clow before going back to that world with the manju bun. What they had not expected had been Sakura's outright refusal to go back till they found the ones responsible.

I had to admit, this girl was just as brave as her copy.

Months went by, as the searched tirelessly, asking around or scouting for information. Sometimes the three of them would go together as a group and sometimes it would just be the mage or the kid. They still refused to let the princess go out alone by herself.

This was something I agreed upon with the two.

This world was not safe.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the kid let out an almost inaudible sigh. He had finished arranging the wooden crates in front of the gap in such a manner that no one would be able to guess that a girl was hiding in between somewhere.

The kid cast one last worried look in the direction of those boxes before he whirled around and dashed outside. Even though I knew I would not be able to do anything at all, I still followed him.

"Be careful, kid," I warned him gruffly, knowing full well that he would not hear me.

He dashed back in the direction of the group of thugs that had been tailing them.

Midway there, he unsealed his sword and ran into a small street. The bastards came after him till they met a dead end.

The kid turned around to face them, weapon ready as he took up a stance.

The men advanced at him simultaneously, with the kid blocking the first two blows, whirling around the third, ducking under the fourth and countering the fifth. The fight was intense but it was something that I knew he could handle.

As time went by, I noticed with a grimace that the men were a lot more skilled then their outward appearance let on. Most of the time, they managed to avoid getting injured but at least they were wearing out. Unfortunately, the same was happening to the kid as well.

All of a sudden, a dark, ominous presence filled the area we were in. My heart clenched up in fear as I realized what that meant.

"Get the hell out of here kid!" I yelled urgently, praying to Kami that he would somehow hear my voice. If only for this one time. Before it was…

Too late.

"Shit." I cursed loudly, turning around to look at the newcomer.

It was a woman with pale, silvery blond tresses that went past her knees. Her eyes were the darkest shade of black, like a pair of black holes that would devour your very soul if you looked into them long enough.

Her eyes flickered for the briefest moments in my direction before she turned her hungry, voracious gaze in the kid's direction. She was advancing towards him at a slow, predatory pace and he had still not sensed her presence.

The poor kid was exhausted, I guess he shouldn't have gone for six months without getting proper sleep every once in a while. A slow smirk appeared on her face as she drew nearer and nearer.

She was just a couple of feet away from where the kid was locked in a deadly battle with one of her rather skilled swordsmen. All the others had retreated when they had sensed her presence.

"Oye, you! Witch!" I yelled, "Get away from him!" panic was clutching at my heart. This was the first time in a long while, that I had lost control like that. But this was also the first time when I was watching everything unfold yet remained unable to do anything to change it.

Even if I wanted to, I would have never been able to even touch her, let alone harm her or her minions.

All of a sudden, with an inhuman speed, she closed the distance between her and my apprentice. She whipped her right arm in his direction, which the kid was able to dodge somewhat clumsily, finally having noticed her. But the witch was more agile. And strong. She easily smashed her other arm in his back, throwing him down to the hard concrete. His sword flew from his hand and landed at my own feet.

"Come on kid, get up!" I shouted, hoping against hope that maybe this time he would be able to hear me.

He tried to pick himself up on wobbly arms but her arm had already smashed in his back once again.

Before he could regain his lost breathe, she had attacked him again. And again. And again. Her strongest minion- the one that had been fighting the kid after the others had retreated- joined in, kicking Syaoran in the ribs and stomach.

I watched on, anger burning through my veins, as they mercilessly beat the poor kid to a bloody mess. Purpling bruises covered every visible part of his skin in less than five minutes.

"Syaoran-kun!" I thanked the heavens above, having never felt so relieved and happy to hear the idiot's voice.

I whipped around to see him making his way through the witch's henchmen, who had retreated earlier.

I watched the Celesian mage fight them off using my sword. For a moment, I was shocked. He dodged and parried their attacks with such ease and skill that no one would have been able to guess that he had never used a sword to fight before now. But the way he fought now was somehow different from how he used to fight. He was more… aggressive, I guess could fit the bill.

Syaoran's pained cries made my head snap back in his direction, bringing me out of my analysis of the magician's new fighting style.

He was lying on the ground on his back, blood trickling down the side of his face. His eyes were shut tight in a grimace, since the woman had pinned him in place using her high heeled foot to push on his chest. The kid was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood as she dug it deeper in.

His face contorted even further as she applied more pressure. And then I heard a sickening crack. Unable to contain his pain, he cried out.

She had #%^in snapped the kid's ribs!

I heard the snap of another rib break under the pressure as he cried out screamed yet again.

"You %^&*!" Me and the mage yelled at the same time, both of us rushing at her. Him with his sword and me with my fists alone. The mage was blocked by her apprentice, I think that's what that swordfighter was, while I simply phased right through her.

I guess in my anger I had forgotten that I can now _frickin_ _pass_ _through_ _things_!

Never before in my life had I felt so damn helpless!

I swear, if I had been alive… Hell, even dead, if I had been given just one chance, just one single chance not to phase through things but touch something, I would have used that opportunity to make sure that &*^# woman suffered long and hard before I killed her.

Despite his pain, the kid was struggling against the witch, trying to wriggle free from her. But the witch bent down and grabbed the back of his head.

"You're not going anywhere boy!" crackled the witch, pulling his head up as she straightened, forcing his back to bend, instead.

With an enraged cry, I rushed at her one more time. Surely one of my hits would land. Not all of them would pass right through that sickening, grinning face of hers. Right?

The poor kid wailed in agony, his cry cut short by violent coughs, which forced blood out with them, painting his lips red, dribbling down his chin as he choked and gagged.

"Hama-Ryou-Jin!" I whirled around upon hearing a familiar voice cry out the name of my family's attack. _When the hell did that idiot learn it?!?_

The force of the attack sent the witch's apprentice flying into a wall while the mage once again rushed towards her.

"Let him go you &*%#!" Whoa! The mage had definitely acquired quite a lot of new words in his vocabulary.

"I don't think so mage." The witch smirked as a black energy barrier sprung up around her and the kid, covering the two of them in an enormous dome. Purposefully slow, she proceeded to summon similar dark magic in her hand.

"No!" he yelled in desperation, hacking at the barrier with my sword. "I am not letting you steal another important person from my life!"

The force of his blows began cracking the shield as his eyes turned to golden cat-like slits and wild blue magical sparks began erupting all around his thin frame. Wherever they touched the black energy field, a hole would appear. It seemed as though his magic was eating up her shield.

"H-how can you do that?" From her reaction, I'm guessing such a feat should have been impossible to accomplish. Why else would that grin be wiped off her face as her eyes widened in shock… and fear?

But it showed only for a split second for in the next moment, she had regained her composure, letting the magic dissipate from her hand, simultaneously letting go of the kid.

She turned her full attention on the deranged magician before her. With an expression of cold fury on her features, she began murmuring something under her breath. Soon after, rainbow colored, smoky swirls started enveloping her body. Looking at the weak semi-conscious kid at her feet, I noticed that he, too, was being covered in that smoke. To the right, her apprentice and a few minions were also coming under the influence of her transportation spell.

"Syaoran-kun!" The mage cried out as he broke yet another part of the shield using the sword and his magic.

"His death was going to be swift and painless, like that other friend's of yours," the witch's voice carried an odd hollow ring to it as her body dissolved and vanished in the smoke. "But now, I'll make sure that he suffers. And when he's dead… Well, you better watch out, mage."

And with that final warning, she vanished, along with everyone else.

Large cracks appeared in the circular dome of black magic which then shattered to millions of tiny pieces, dispersing into nothingness before they even hit the road.

With a wail of helpless agony, the magician fell to his knees, my sword clattering noisily to the ground by his side.

"I failed…" he muttered, his eyes wide in disbelief, as they flickered between their normal blue and their vampiric golden colored state. "I failed them again…"

_**A/N: So there you have it. Was it good? Or Bad? Drop by in the review room and let me know.**_

_**Just so you know guys, I already have the next chapter typed out and all but I'm not going to put it up here till I get at least three reviews for THIS chapter.**_

_**I'm sorry but being nice and saying pretty please doesn't seem to work anymore so yeah, I'm resorting to blackmailing now. Review or no updates! **_

_**So until I hear from you guys again… ;)**_

_**Ja ne.**_

_**~Nims.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: A reviewer asked me in the last chapter, why Fai's eyes turned gold like when he was a vampire when this story is post series. Here's the explanation I gave her. (You might want to skip ahead to the story itself, if you haven't gotten to the end of the manga since there might be a small spoiler in there)**_

_**Explanation:**__** Fai is not a full vampire. I just like to think that even though he got his magic back, he still retains the vampire characteristics, like strength and speed healing and well, the trademark yellow catlike eyes. But it's like Yuuko said, he just doesn't need Kurogane's blood anymore. And when he's very frustrated, or very angry, that is the time when the vampire eyes how up.**_

_**Hope that cleared it up.**_

_**Now go ahead and enjoy.**_

_**Don't forget to leave a review since in the end; my life might depend on it. ;)**_

The first thing that caught my attention as I slid back into consciousness was the dry scent of dust, the dull hum of electricity and the metallic taste of blood that filled my mouth. I became aware of that much before a sharp pain erupted in my chest and skull. All thoughts were erased from my mind as the feeling enveloped my entire being.

Despite myself, I cried out, screwing up my already closed eyes, as I mentally willed the pain to go away. That, of course, did not work at all. If anything, the hurting only grew worse.

Confused about my whereabouts and the condition I was in, I attempted to massage my head. It was with a jolt that I realized I couldn't move my arm. It was strapped tightly to a flat surface. I tried my other arm only to get the same results. But it wasn't just my arms that were strapped down. My ankles and waist had met the same fate as well.

Panic swept over me as my eyes snapped open. Not caring about the fact that I was already in pain, I pulled against the restraints, testing their strength, trying to see if I could jerk myself loose and get out of here, but they didn't feel like would give out anytime soon.

With a lot more effort than the action would normally require, I turned my head sideways to observe my surroundings. My eyes watered despite the room being submerged in semi darkness. The only source of light was the flickering light bulb overhead.

The walls on either side of me were lined with huge metallic structures. Wires sprouted beneath them, snaking along the floor in various directions.

"Good to see you're up and about," a soft melodious voice spoke from somewhere to my right. My head snapped in that direction only to meet a pair of pitch black eyes inches from my face.

I blinked a couple of times before asking almost automatically, "Where am I?"

"You're in a room," she said, stating the obvious as she pulled away a little bit, a slow smirk appearing on her face. I refrained from the urge to roll my eyes at that.

"I can see that much." Six months back I would have probably asked her again, in a slightly more polite manner.

But now…

I guess people change.

"Then I don't see the need to ask me that." She said simply as her gaze traveled to the large metallic door in the left side of the room. I found this rather odd, seeing as the room itself was quite small.

"Alright then," I decided to ask something different, "who are you?"

"My identity is something you should not concern yourself with," she said as she walked around the metallic table I was strapped to. Her footsteps echoed loudly across the room as she approached the door. She opened a small window built into it and spoke to someone outside in a quiet voice.

After the person on the other side told her something she slid it shut and turned around. Her malicious dark eyes were fixed on my face, never leaving me, as she began pacing around the room.

I stared back with equal intensity, neither of us uttering a word. As more time passed by, anxiety began making its way into my mind. The pounding in my head had subsided considerably though the pain in my chest was still making its presence known rather insistently.

Questions began chattering back and forth in my mind as I tried to ignore the feeling.

Was Sakura safe? What of Fai? And Mokona? Had any of them been injured? Were they alright? How long had I been out? Had they realized I was gone? What was this woman planning to do to me?

"Why am I here?" I decided to voice one of my thoughts out loud.

She did not answer my question as she walked back to me.

"You'll find out soon enough, boy" she replied in condescending tones, ruffling my hair with one hand, an amused smile plastered on her face.

I tried to shake my head out of her grasp, even though it squared the intensity of the hammers beating against my skull.

"You are such an amusing thing," She retracted her hand with a mirth-filled laugh. "It's only going to get more amusing from here onwards."

I felt a bead of sweat trickle past my ear, the earlier sense of foreboding passing over me in cold-heated waves once more. I tried to keep the panic I felt at bay even though I knew from the way this woman had spoken that whatever it was she had in mind for me, it was far from amusing.

Subconsciously, I found myself tugging at my restraints once again. Maybe if I kept at it, I might be able to break one of them and get myself away from this place. Although how I would manage that was beyond me. I decided to worry about that once I was free of those straps.

The metal door she had glanced in the direction of earlier creaked open and a man walked in. He whispered something in the woman's ear and then walked over to one of the metal structures. He opened a small compartment built into it and began fiddling with something inside.

The waves of cold heat, tripled as I strained to see what was inside, but the angle wasn't right.

The woman gave another chuckle as her hand came to rest on top of my head once again.

"Don't touch me," I snarled, trying to jerk away, but in the next moment I discovered that that had been a very bad idea. My jostling had apparently shifted one of my broken ribs- I suspected they were definitely broken given how badly they hurt. A stabbing pain erupted in my chest, making me cry out.

My head snapped to one side when the palm of her hand connected with my cheek. My face stung from where the woman had slapped me. A little surprised, I turned my head back to look at her, only to find her face twisted in rage.

"Never use that tone with me boy" she said through gritted teeth. "Ah. There we go." In less than a microsecond, all traces of anger were gone from her face as a gleeful smile lit it up. I blinked a couple of times, wondering about the mental state of this woman.

A crackling sound emitted from where the man had gone in. Alarmed, I once again whipped my head in that direction. Black filled my vision for a few seconds as a wave of dizziness passed over me. When I was able to see, I noticed that the man was gripping two giant metal clamps in his hands. They were attached to the wires that I had noticed before. He clapped them together, and electricity zapped and crackled brightly around them.

I froze, cold dread radiating out from my core, sending uncontrollable shivers through my arms and legs. I tried to take in long deep breathes in an attempt to calm myself but they came out as harsh, rugged pants.

_Don't scream… _ I told myself, understanding what was going to happen._ Don't shake… _I ordered, trying to keep my body from quivering. _Don't give them the pleasure of seeing you afraid…that's just what she wants…_

The woman held out her hands like an excited four-year-old and the man deposited the clamps in them, one in each.

"This is going to be so much fun," she giggled as she closed in, holding the clamps right in front of me. I watched with bated breath as she drew closer and closer.

"You're sick," I spat, finally overcoming the initial fear. Her wild, grinning face loomed over mine as she leaned over, attaching one of the clamps to the right side of my platform, next to my leg.

Panic began to set in, and hard. I threw myself against the restraints once more, ignoring the pain that shot through my chest and head. I _had_ to get away. This crazy woman was going to kill me with that much electricity.

She leaned in towards me, her warm breath tickling my ear as she whispered. "Now, now, no need to get all fidgety, boy."

A wave of pure terror washed over me as she lowered her hand to fasten the remaining clamp on the other side. Taking a deep shuddering breath, I braced myself, the muscles of my body tightening in an attempt to prepare me for what was about to happen.

The world went numb for a split second, every hair on my body prickling with static. And then, the electricity hit. It shredded through my being, through my flesh and bones, through my skull and broken ribs, through my very soul.

All thought of resistance abandoned me as I screamed out in agony, thrashing against the straps holding me down to the metal table.

Unbelievable amount of pain surged through my body, past endurance. My mind had gone white; my chest felt like it was going to burst open any second.

I was going to die.

I knew it.

There was no way in hell that I wasn't...

But just as soon as the reality of death hit, it was over. A strong ache still lingered in my arms and legs, but it was over...

I lay there, limp against my restraints, gasping for breath, hardly able to believe I was still conscious. I kept my eyes shut tight as sweat and tears trickled down my face.

"How was it?" her voice whispered menacingly in my ear, sending a visible shudder through my body.

My mind felt completely numb, my throat dry and my chest as if it was being stabbed on the inside by blunt edges knives.

I bit my lip to hold back a reply. I had made it through once, and I was determined to do it again. I could not really imagine why she was putting me through this. Maybe she wanted me to talk. To tell her about the others and where they were. Or maybe she just wanted to see me suffer.

But whatever it was, I wasn't going to give in without a fight

After a few moments of silence, the woman gave a small chuckle.

"Alright then, have it your way."

_No!_

She attached the clamp once more and the energy seared to life, ripping through my muscles, burning skin and flesh alike. I writhed and thrashed against the bonds holding me down. It felt like I was being fried on the inside. I felt the metallic taste intensify in my mouth, filling it up and choking me while I screamed. I had no way of knowing how much time had passed since to me it seemed like an eternity. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight anymore. At that time my entire world was consumed by just one thing.

Pain.

I could feel myself fading away, my numb mind welcoming the blissful darkness. I barely had any strength left to remain conscious.

After a long time, she pulled off one of the clamps and cut off the electricity flow. My stomach churned violently as the smell of burnt hair and flesh filled my nostrils. My injured body shook violently as I tried to breath. A horrible silence pervaded the air around me.

I felt completely disoriented, disheveled, no longer sure which way was up and which way was down. After several long minutes, I finally managed to crack my eyes open and look up. Her grinning face was inches from mine, looking more demented and happier than ever.

"I hope you're having fun, boy, because this is just the beginning." She gave a maniacal cackle of delight as I swallowed hard. Fear began coursing through my veins as the woman kept laughing. I knew this was going to hurt awfully but there was nothing I could do about it anymore.

In the back of my mind I saw their smiling faces. They were all smiling at me. Even Kurogane. His smile was more of a smirk, actually, but it was good-natured all the same.

I braced myself for another round of electrocution as tears began welling up in my eyes. I tried to hold on to the faces of the ones I loved as she clamped the metal clip once again, waves of pure agony crashing down on me in powerful waves, drowning me, removing all other thoughts from my mind.

The wild, deranged laughter of that woman overlapped my own anguished screams as they tore through my throat…

_**A/N: H-hey. Guys. Why are all of you standing there with pitchforks and flaming torches?**_

_**Oh. You just wanna kill me is all. Okay… Say WHAT?!!**_

_**N-no. Oh come on people. It's not like I'm the only author who tortures the good guys for reasons known to only themselves…**_

_**Um, Guys? No! Get that away from me! Hey, poke that somewhere else. Put me down! Put me down! Noooo…. (And she gets carried off by an angry mob)**_

_**Fai: Hmm, well that was an interesting reaction. I wonder what they'll do when they find out what else she had planned in mind for him.**_

_**Mokona: Fai, shouldn't we go and help her?**_

_**Fai: Nah, let the reviewers do that. We always save her from angry mobs.**_

_**Mokona: But what if they join the mob instead?**_

_**Fai: Crap. **_**That**_** could be a problem. *sigh* Alright let's round up the ones willing to save her and go rescue her.**_

_**Me: (screams from the top of a burning pyre) Hurry up guys! This fire is hot! And it burns…**_

_**Mokona: You know what to do.**_

_**PS. There is no need for me to say this but I need at least three reviews before I write and post the next chapter. (Holding stories at ransom is a very good way to get reviews. Should have thought of that earlier. ;) ;) )**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: I'm back. **_

_**Again.**_

_**No thanks to a certain someone who joined the mob in dancing around the fire while I got roasted.**_

_**Fai: Oh come on. I've already apologized for that.**_

_**Me: Still not talking to you.**__** It's only thanks to Silence-chan and kim-onka-chan that I was able to get out of there alive. And for this reason, this chapter is dedicated to them.**_

_**Thanks for sticking around. ^_^**_

_**Now, go ahead and enjoy the new chapter. (I figured that if I kept on waiting for the third review for the previous chapter, well… It's taking way too long. Come on people, three is not **_**that**_** big a number)**_

_**Anyhow, Read and Review.**_

My mind felt numb as I walked through the quickly darkening streets. The cold freezing wind bit angrily at my skin but I could not even bring myself to zip up my jacket. The hilt of Syaoran's sword felt so strange and cold in my hands.

The same thoughts were playing over and over in my head.

I had let them take him away.

Just like that.

Right before my eyes.

And I couldn't even trace his signal anymore. I had tried every single tracking spell I knew, which was saying something, but for some reason, his magical signature had just… vanished.

He wasn't dead. I knew that much for sure.

He was still alive, I could feel it.

But no matter what I did, I couldn't find him.

In the end, it was the thought of Sakura, scared and cold, hiding somewhere that forced me to give up tracking him down.

I hated myself for that, but I couldn't help feeling that somehow, now that that witch had gotten her hands on Syaoran, she would leave me and Sakura alone for a while.

For some strange, twisted reason I was happy that I had managed to anger her.

I had encountered that type of magicians before, back in Celes. There was no mistaking that crazy mixed aura that surrounded her. She was one of _them._ In fact, a part of me felt like she was...

That magic she had summoned back in the dome, I had known what it was. And I was glad, so glad that she had decided to take him away instead of finishing the job right there.

She was going to drag it on, I knew that for sure. Which meant I still had time.

I could save him.

But for now, I had to find Sakura.

_Sakura's POV:_

It had to be more than four hours now. My legs had lost all feel in them since I had not moved from my position for fear of making a noise, or disturbing the cover Syaoran had made for me. I tried to stop myself but…

Achoo!

The sound of my sneeze reverberated around the walls of the empty warehouse Syaoran and I had taken refuge in for a while. Like always, he had gone back out to protect me from those guys chasing after us. It was at times like this when I wished I had learnt how to fight from Touya or maybe Kurogane-san. Then I would be able to help the others.

Back then, no one had ever thought I would need such knowledge. After all, Kurogane-san was with us all the time. And there were Fai and Syaoran too.

They were there to keep the princess safe.

But then, six months ago, Kurogane-san left us all. They say it was the work of some serial killer, but I find that hard to believe. How could he, the mightiest ninja in Nihon, have fallen at the hands of some common murderer?

After Kurogane-san's funeral, Fai and Syaoran had tried to send me back to Clow. Back to safety, while they would search for that killer. Kurogane-san had been my friend too. There had been no way that I would have agreed to go back. I needed to find that person just as much as the others did.

So, I stayed behind.

I should have tried asking one of them to teach me then. Since it was obvious that we were going to run into danger sooner or later.

Like now.

Why didn't, I?

I still don't know. But I know one thing.

Tonight, when we are back at home with Fai, I am definitely going to bring this up.

It's about time I learnt to protect myself and the ones I hold dear.

I'm pretty sure that if Kurogane-san were still alive, he would approve of my decision too.

The screech of the warehouse door sliding open made me tense up all the muscles in my body.

My first instinct was to jump out and greet Syaoran before berating him for making me worry for so long.

Was he okay? This thought had been plaguing me the entire time I had been hiding here underneath this dirty tarp. Had he gotten hurt somehow? About an hour after he had left, this feeling of worry had intensified enough to make me want to follow him.

But then I remembered what Syaoran had told me. And so I waited, despite the fact that every second that passed, I had to fight myself to stay in place.

Even now, I stopped myself from rushing out of my hiding place on the basis of a single thought.

What if it wasn't Syaoran?

It was strange that such a thought had even emerged in my head; then again, there was still that sense of foreboding that lingered around. Hence I sat with bated breath as a pair of quiet footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

The sound of wood being dragged across the dirt-covered floor filled the air. My heart pounded wildly against my chest as the last of the wooden crates was moved away. Now there was nothing more than an old dusty sheet of cloth separating me from whoever was outside.

Slowly, the person lifted the tarp while I prepared myself to run in case the need arose. Even though I knew that my numb legs would give out under me before I would be able to take a single step.

I blinked a couple of times when I found myself staring into a familiar set of eyes. But it wasn't the one I had been expecting.

"Thank goodness." He breathed in relief, helping me to my feet. My legs smarted as blood rushed back in them. Just as I had suspected, they gave out under me, making me fall on Fai.

"Sorry," I managed to get out as he led to one of the crates and sat me down.

"Let the blood circulate properly for a while," he instructed me.

"Fai," I asked him in a quiet voice, noticing something. "Why are you holding Syaoran's sword?"

"…"

"No." I shook my head in disbelief, not willing to accept the silent answer his pale face had given me. "No… No!"

"Sakura, I-"

"No! He can't... He- He said he'd be fine!" I was not aware of the warm saltine water flowing down my cheeks as Fai brought me close in a hug.

"Sakura…"

"He promised…" I sobbed into his chest. "He said he'd be fine…"

Still shocked, I watched in a daze as Fai wrote out a transportation spell and took us back to the small two-bedroom apartment we had bought in this world. I just sat there watching him move about the kitchen. Rivulets of tears wet my cheeks as I hiccupped in a trance like state.

I didn't utter a single word as he pressed the warm steaming mug of some liquid in my hand; I gulped it all in one go, not even wincing when it burnt my throat.

Reality of what had happened finally set in. He was gone.

"Where-" I started, looking at him through tear-stained eyes, but he cut me in.

"He's not dead, Sakura."

"Not dead?" I repeated slowly. He nodded grimly.

"Oh… OH!" I jumped to my feet. "Is he hurt? Is that why you came in his place? Is he resting? Can I see him? Or if he is sleeping, maybe I should go later. I'm sure he won't mind if I went now but I'd most probably just disturb his sleep. Not that he'd say that to me. But…" I trailed off on seeing the look on his face. "He _is_ in his room. Right?"

"He's not in a hospital somewhere. Right?"

"Right?" I asked him again, "Fai, why won't you say something? Where is he?"

"Sakura, I- I don't know." He answered in a cracked voice, lowering his head to avoid my gaze.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I laughed-, my tone desperate. "You said he's alive, so where is he?"

His finger ran over the engravings on Syaoran's sword as he answered.

"He was kidnapped."

_Fai's POV:_

"What?" there was that desperate laugh again, trying to make it all sound like some very bad joke. "You're kidding, right, Fai?" I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I wanted to spare her the pain.

I wanted so badly to just give her a reassuring smile and nod. Tell her that it had indeed, been a very bad joke on my part. I didn't want to be the one to tell her this.

Tell her that her Syaoran was in the clutches of a crazy witch who drained people of their magical essence. Who tormented them for her own twisted pleasure, relishing the pained screams of her victims as she slowly tortured them to the brink of insanity.

I couldn't tell her all that, because if I did, I would have to tell her about who that witch was and where she came from. What she had done in the past. I couldn't burden Sakura with all that knowledge.

It was breaking my heart, yet in the end I had to tell her. Not the entire truth, but part of it anyways. The part that concerned her and Syaoran.

"No, Sakura." I couldn't bear to look at her, so I turned away. "It's not a joke."

"…"

"I'm really sorry." I lowered my head in shame. Knowing that I had been able to do nothing at all as she had taken him away.

"Fai-san," the use of honorific after my name startled me. It had been so long ago since we had addressed each other that way. "You don't have to be."

Hah. I don't have to be sorry?

Oh Sakura-chan. You have no idea how much I have to be.

Judging from the slight rustle of her clothes, I suppose she had gotten to her feet.

"We'll find him," she said confidently, laying her hand on top of my shoulder.

Sakura-chan, you have no idea how badly I want that to happen. I don't think I can stand losing another precious person at her hands.

The room was silent, save for the sounds of our quiet breathing as we stood there in the centre of the room. We stayed like that for a long time till the silence was broken by Sakura.

"Fai-san," she sounded hesitant. "I-I have something to ask of you."

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" I finally turned around to see the girl shuffling her feet slightly; looking at the brown carpet as the motion brushed the tiny threads this way and that.

"I've been thinking about this for quite some time and now…" she looked up, her bloodshot emerald eyes alight with strong emotions. "I-I… I think…"

"What is it?" I coaxed her gently.

"Um, h-how did you… How did you learn to fight like Kurogane-san?" she rushed out the words.

Fight like Kurogane? I suppose after six months of me using his sword, she was bound to notice.

"Through magic." I answered truthfully. When Tomoyo-hime had entrusted his sword to me, I had felt the need to wield it like its original owner. A few spells of my own creation had allowed me to accomplish that.

A look of understanding dawned on her face, along with something of a relief.

"Fai-san," she said in a serious tone. "Until the time we find Syaoran… I want to be the one to hold onto his sword."

_**A/N: Okay, so that's it for this time. Next up is Kurgy's POV and things get a little tough for Syoaran. If you wanna know what will happen you know what to do.**_

_**Review Damnit! **_

_**Ahem. Yeah, sorry, I just lost my cool but I still blame you guys for that. Nice long reviews telling me how much you like my fic, will definitely pacify my anger and make me update faster. ;) ;) **_

_**Note: This story is still being held for a ransom of three reviews.**_


	6. Chapter 6

I watched in shock as I heard Sakura, that sweet innocent little girl who I had travelled along with for three years, suddenly declare that she wanted to fight.

The mage was just as surprised by this sudden proclamation as I was.

The first thought that ran through my head was, _What?_

But I guessed the mage had been suspecting something of that sort. He merely looked down, letting out a barely audible sigh.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her softly.

A look of determination that could rival my apprentice's crossed her features as she nodded her head once.

"I am." It was only two words. Why was it that it was her declaration that finally made me realize, things would never be the same again?

Well, there was the glaring reality that I was dead.

And the kid was kidnapped by a psycho bitch and was quite possibly hurt badly.

And the mage was using my sword and techniques.

So why was it that it was Sakura's words that made the reality finally sink in?

Maybe because even after everything that had happened, I had always hoped that she would forever remain Sakura. The kind little princess whose heart-warming smile would manage to touch the heart of even a blood thirsty ninja like me.

Hence the thought of her actually wanting to learn how to hurt others, was something that was… well, it was a very un-Sakura-like thing to do.

But I knew how much their situation had changed.

She needed to know how to protect herself. In case…

In case something happened to Fai too.

Thanks to the recent events I had been forced to consider that a possibility.

I vaguely wondered what was going on with the Syaoran right now. Was he holding up okay? What was that bitch putting him through?

As these questions ran through my head, I felt a strange physical force pull at my entire being. At first it was like a soft tug which grew insistent after a while. This had to be the first thing that I had physically felt since I had died, so a strange wave of emotions rolled over me.

Or maybe it was something else.

I looked down to see myself being… I had no idea what was happening to me actually. My body was growing transparent and I was beginning to see double. I could see the mage and the princess talking in front of me, but at the same time I could also see a dark room with a flickering bulb overhead. Slowly, my body began to solidify once again but the room with the mage and Sakura had vanished.

I was now standing in an empty dark room with a freaking dying light bulb overhead.

At least. That's how it appeared to me initially.

As my eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness they had been thrown into, I realized that the room was, in fact, not empty at all. Its walls were lined with tall metallic structures and there were wires snaking around the floor but it was the metallic table in the centre of the room that caught my attention.

There, strapped to its flat surface, was the kid. But he wasn't in a condition I would have ever wanted to see him in. It was something I would have wished upon my worst enemies. That crazy witch maybe.

But not the kid.

Never the kid.

He was screaming, his body jerking and convulsing at impossible angles, his eyes screwed up tightly.

Then, all of a sudden, he fell limp against his holds.

Well sort of.

He was still shaking violently. As if he had a bad fever or something. And his face was beaded with sweat running down the sides in rivulets, mingling with the tears that had escaped his clamped eyes.

But at least he had stopped screaming.

The witch's face was bent to his level, she was laughing like a maniac. My blood pounded against my ears as rage made me see red.

How dare she do that to him?

The kid had been through enough already!

I flew at her, fists raised in an attempt to flatten that face.

I guess I'll never learn.

Ghosts can't f**kin touch _**anything**_!

"I hope you're having fun, boy," I heard her cackle in his ear. "Because this is just the beginning."

I could feel it in my very ghostly bones.

She was going to hurt him.

Badly.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I saw the kid tense up for a split second as she attached that clip to the table.

The woman let out a deranged laugh at the same time the kid screamed. I could only watch helplessly, wanting nothing more than to crush that woman and her f**kin sidekick's face. To slice that face into so many pieces that nothing would be left behind. To burn her in the deepest pits of hell myself.

To do something.

Anything.

Just _**one freaking time!**_

Oh God! How badly did I want to be given that chance.

Every single cry of his tore through my heart. And yet I was powerless.

Yes.

The mighty Kurogane. The most feared assassin of Nihon. The guy who was supposed to be invincible. He was helpless. Truly and utterly helpless.

Even as I watched him get shocked by- no doubt- an enormous amount of electricity, I was unable to anything. She would take off the clamp from the table every now and then, to let the kid breathe before electrocuting him again. And again. And again. And again…

It was like I myself was being tortured along with the kid.

Imagine what it would feel like to watch someone you cared about die a little with each passing second and you were unable to help them. Now imagine that every single moment that that person spent was itself filled with agony, and you knew how much they hurt. But you could not do anything to take that pain away. And you suffered along with them, hurting and dying on the inside.

That was how I felt. Except for the fact that I was already dead. I don't even know why I keep bringing that up, again and again.

Maybe because a part of me still finds it hard to believe.

Well whatever it was, it meant nothing. Not anymore.

Why the hell was I even here?

Why was I being shown how truly powerless I was?

Was this some sort of punishment that the gods had decided upon for me?

Well, if it was, I got the effin point! I can't do anything!

I am not invincible!

Just let the freakin kid go already! Why the hell did they have to drag him in to teach me that?

I think my death at the hands of a bunch of newbies was more than a lesson. Why did they have to keep on rubbing it in my face?

My angry rants to those deities above were broken when the screams stopped.

It had probably been somewhere after the tenth time that witch had set the clamp in place on the metal table that I had somehow managed to push the kid's screams to the back of my mind. I'll admit it now. Undeniably, it was the coward's way out. To turn away from reality. But with reality as horrible as it was this time, I wouldn't have been able to hold onto sanity for long.

Why did I want that, though, I still don't know.

It's not like I could do anything.

I watched the pitiful, shivering form of the kid who was breathing in ragged breaths. His eyes were glazed over and he was barely conscious anymore.

"Don't worry boy," The witch cupped the side of his face as she spoke to him in sweet loving tones. "We'll have a lot more fun tomorrow. I promise you that."

"Get your filthy hands off him!" I yelled angrily, but once again I was mute to the world around me. She and her minion swept out of the room as I walked over to the platform they had strapped him to.

"Don't give up kid," I sighed, laying a hand on the top of his head, unable to feel his soft hair the way I normally had whenever I had done it before. "The others are looking for you. They'll get you out of here. Soon."

He turned his hazy brown eyes in my direction. But I knew he couldn't see me.

"K-Kurogane-san…" his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lost consciousness.

Could he?

_**A/N: Poor Syaoran, I don't think I'm gonna be giving the kid a break anytime soon. ;)**_

_**Oh and Sakura is gonna be badass. Well, sort of. (Wonders if she can pull of a Sakura who fight like Syaoran.)**_

_**I hope Kurogane wasn't too out of character over here.**_

_**Btw, what do you think? **_**Can**_** Syaoran see Kurogane?**_

_**I'm thinking about having a poll to decide about Syaoran's fate.**_

_**The options are:**_

_**He gets saved before something really bad happens (not very inclined towards this option. It's supposed to be a tragedy sorta fic so…)**_

_**He get's saved but he's no longer what he used to be. (his spirit could be broken, he could be maimed, he could end up in a coma. That sort of thing.)**_

_**Sakura and Fai fail to get to him on time and he dies. (They just end up finding his dead body, like with Kurogane.)**_

_**So far, these are the three possible futures that I have in mind for him. I'm more inclined towards b) and c) but it's up to you guys to decide. You can vote on my profile or through PM or via Review if you're feeling too lazy to go there.**_

_**PS. In case you chose b) tell me what you want done to him. **_

_**That's it for now. This is Nims signing off.**_

_**Next time, Syaoran's POV.**_


	7. Chapter 7

I was lying on a flat surface… I was injured…

Something in the back of my mind told me I was… But I was… Confused.

How could that be even possible?

I didn't have any memory of getting injured.

And I definitely did not feel injured.

I couldn't even feel the pain that accompanied injuries….

As a matter of fact, I couldn't feel anything in my body…

It was almost as if it wasn't there…

Well, I couldn't have been too terribly injured then, right?

Maybe I could simply stay lying there and be careful not to move, or breathe, or think, until someone came and helped me. I wouldn't have to feel anything… I'd be okay…

But no sooner had I thought that my mind registered the pain.

Hard.

A rasping cry ripped out through clenched teeth as my chest and head erupted with torment far greater than anything I had felt so far. It enveloped my entire being as my skull threatened to crack open while my ribs tried to skewer me from the inside.

I couldn't stop the sobs that spilled out from me. I was in so much pain. It was flooding my senses. Overloading them. My body writhed helplessly, my spine twisting and contorting the broken ribs, making me cry out loud.

It hurt so bad…

Why wasn't I dying already?

_Calm down,_ I heard a familiar voice speak but it was so faint. So distant. And it had been months since I had last heard him. However, my strained brain was unable to comprehend the simple command that voice had given. _Thrashing around will only make it worse. Take deep breaths, calm down and lay still…_

"But it hurts too much…" I couldn't keep myself from whimpering.

_Breathe. _ The distant voice instructed me gently. _Focus only on that._

"How would that help?" my voice was weak, barely above a whisper. My chest and head hurt way past my endurance level. I tried breathing in slowly but every breath I drew was nothing more than a shallow gasp. "I should stop breathing altogether… It would make the pain go away faster…" I let out a shaky laugh which, I learnt not a second later, had been a very bad idea.

A fresh spike of pain burst in my chest. I cried out.

_No!_ The voice almost yelled. _Keep breathing. The pain will go away. Just focus._

I did as I was told. I drew a breath, slowly so as to not move my ribs any more than necessary. It was really hard work. Focusing like that. But fortunately it was something that required all my attention, so it distracted me from the pain.

I could still feel the tears dripping down my cheeks as I pulled in another lungful.

_Keep going kid. _

Kurogane-san. That voice made me think of Kurogane-san… But he was dead… and I was all alone… in a torture chamber in some unknown location…

_Now count them…_ his voice instructed me.

I was already on breath two. I released it as gently as I could before drawing another one. Three… and another one... Four… and another… Five.

Wow, I was actually able to do it.

_You can do it._

I drew ten breaths, then twenty, then fifty… slowly, as time went by, my body relaxed, the violent shakes down to occasional shudders. The hurting was lessening as well. My exhausted brain began drifting somewhere after the two hundredth breath. It slipped back to the times long gone.

To the times when I had truly felt happy.

_Syaoran!_

She was there, right beside me. Her lovely, radiant smile filling my heart with warmth. Her beautiful green eyes sparkling like the rarest and the most exquisite of all emeralds.

I wanted so badly to be able to tell her I loved her. How much she meant to me. How much I…

But I never got a chance to finish that. The sight of her kind face was replaced by the darkness of my prison. It was when I tried to wipe away my tears that I realized something.

The leather restraints were gone.

And it was dark…

Too dark.

I blinked my tired eyes a couple of times but all I could see was the darkness.

A sudden wave of dizziness threatened to crush me as I turned my head this way and that. But all I could see was… nothing.

Everything was shrouded in black.

Had I…Had I gone blind? Was that why I could not see anything?

Fear and panic was beginning to set in but luckily before I had a panic attack, I noticed a small silver sliver of light in one of the corners of the room near the floor level.

There is light outside the door, my sluggish mind concluded. I let out a sigh of relief but the pain made me rethink my decision. My body still protested whenever I moved.

I licked my dry lips as my brain pounded against my skull. I was thirsty like hell.

And I felt like total crap.

As if to distract myself from my current situation, my mind decided to reel back to what had happened before I had blacked out.

That crazy bitch had been laughing hysterically… there had been that crackling hum of electricity… and then there had been my own screams.

I still couldn't believe that I had screamed like that. How long had she lacerated my body with those rounds of excruciating pain for me to cry out like that? How long had she electrocuted me before I had finally succumbed? Why hadn't I been able to suck it up and endure it all with my mouth shut? Why couldn't I have withstood it all?

What would Kurogane-san have said if he had seen me bawling like a baby?

Kurogane-san…

I remembered the feeling of safety that had surrounded me for a split second before I had blacked out. It had felt so familiar. And warm.

Like Kurogane-san. I had even seen his red eyes filled with such sadness and regret… and guilt… watching over me. Patting me on top of my head, the way he always did to show that he cared.

But Kurogane-san never looked guilty. That was the only thing which made me conclude that it had all been, no doubt, a hallucination brought on by my brain as it had shut down.

A silent sob tore through me as I longed for that familiar sense of protection. The one that had been lost when he had died.

Everything had fallen apart after that. Nothing was the way it had used to be anymore.

I forced myself to get a grip and focus on the situation at hand instead of longing for something which could no longer happen. Somewhere along the way I fell asleep, this time in less pain than when I had woken up.

I opened my eyes blearily, focusing on the flickering light bulb overhead. The ache had dulled substantially during my nap. As carefully as I could, I rolled over to my good side. The side which didn't have broken ribs anyways. The swollen muscles around the shattered bones became alive with pain as I moved, but it was somehow bearable.

Well, that was a good thing.

I concentrated on my breathing yet again as I slowly and cautiously moved myself into a sitting position. I stilled for some time, unmoving so as not to cause any sudden pangs of aching or waves of dizziness.

As my eyes grew more focused and the world stopped swimming before my eyes, I noticed that I was alone in the room. What was going to happen to me now?

Time dragged on slowly, yet nothing happened. I zoned out, staring, unseeingly at the plain black metallic panel in the wall that served as the door. Not thinking anything. Trying not to feel anything.

Just sitting…

The scraping sound of the opening door managed to startle me so strongly that I nearly fell off the table I had been sitting on. The motion had caused my rib to poke me yet again, and badly.

I let out a strangled cry, immediately trying to steady myself and nurse my injured side at the same time.

As I had been left in the darkness for so long with nothing more than a dimly glowing bulb to illuminate the room, the sharp white light that poured in through the door was enough to make me screw my eyes shut.

I heard her soft footsteps approach me. A feeling of dread washed over me since I was unable to see what she was doing.

She stopped at a distance of less than a foot from me.

I held my breath, trying to get my eyes adjusted to the bright light so I that could see. She was smiling that sick smile once again. The one she had given me every single time she had clamped that clip onto the metal platform.

I wasn't even aware of her advance till her hand touched my face, gently cupping my cheek.

It was then that something inside me snapped.

"Get the F**K away from me!" My voice came out as a loud rasping whisper as I swung around, my arm connecting with her still smiling face.

She cried out as she fell to the floor, caught completely off guard by my sudden attack.

My mind had gone blank. I just couldn't stop myself as I dove at her, no longer aware of the pain erupting in my chest as I moved. The only thing running through my mind was…

Well, it was nothing. I didn't have any thoughts in my mind at all. I just wanted to cause her as much suffering as possible.

As I continued pounding my fists into her body, I fleetingly became aware of the light pouring in through the open door.

The open door…

She had left it open!

I punched her in the stomach one last time before getting to my feet. I staggered weakly but quickly into the brightly lit hallway. I was free!

I could get away from here!

I'd be able to see Sakura again!

I'd be…

Wham!

I looked around in daze as the pain exploded in my body.

What had happened? Why was I on the ground? Why wasn't I running anymore?

"I don't think so…"

The frowning figure of a pale face framed with silvery blond hair accentuating dark, menacing eyes was floating in and out of focus above me. I just gaped up at her, unable to move an inch. A strong mixture of hatred, dread and pain filled me up.

All of a sudden, at an alarming rate, her frown turned into a wide grin as she laughed heartily.

"My, my." She wiped non-existent tears of mirth from her eyes as she looked at me. "Not leaving so soon, are you? And we were just going to get to the best part. "

"…"

I could only stare up at her, my eyes burning with hate as I slowly but determinedly tried to get to my feet. The adrenaline rushing through my veins made it easier for me to withstand the pain. But it was definitely going to hurt like hell once the rush wore off.

Mindless of that, I charged forward, fist pulled back to land a punch in her gut. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to destroy the cause of everything that had gone wrong in my life.

Well the newest cause anyways.

I wanted to take her down... Annihilate her… Kill her…

But for some reason she was faster, much, much faster.

Before I knew it, she was behind me. A blink and her arms were holding me in place, applying pressure to my broken ribs as she pulled me into her chest. She was literally breathing down my neck. She moved her mouth next to my ear, causing an involuntary shudder to run down my spine. She pulled me towards her, harder. The ribs jostled, poking something inside me.

I cried out in pain; my lips were parted in a weak scream as my entire frame was shaking from head to toe.

I felt something cold, thin, metallic slide into my mouth, between my teeth and my right cheek. I froze in horror as she pressed the sharp edge of a knife against my flesh.

"Now, now… settle down…" Her voice was gentle, soft. The way she had whispered those words had sent a strange tingling feeling down my spine. A very bad kind of feeling. "You're just going to make things worse for yourself…"

Worse?

I wanted to laugh at that. I was near hysterics on the inside. But outside, I was frozen.

How could anything be worse than what I had already gone through?

Later on I would think back to this moment and decide that the gods above had taken this up as a personal challenge. To prove to me just how wrong I had been to think that I had been having it bad.

For now, I held my breath as I felt the blade dig in deeper.

She was going to slice my mouth open!

My traitorous body was trembling so badly…

I think I heard her chuckle darkly before she spoke in a soft venomous tone. "Now then, will you cooperate?"

Oh God! Why couldn't I stop shaking?

I was terrified. Never before in my life had I been so scared.

Why?

Why was she toying with me like this? I knew she was going to kill. I had known it from the second she had summoned that dark energy in her hand.

The metallic taste of blood in my mouth made my head spin. The blood pooled in my mouth before trickling down my chin when it had no more room left to fill up.

"How about now? Will you cooperate?" The knife was sliding in between the folds of the cut, threatening to slice it open more.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I gave her a small nod.

God! I felt so utterly helpless.

I hated feeling like this.

And I hated that woman for all that she was doing to me.

I hated what she had reduced me to.

But most of all, I was beginning to hate myself.

Slowly, she pulled out the knife, continuously pushing on my ribs to make me stay still. After that, she let me go, but not before bringing the knife to my throat. With a gleeful giggle, she led me down the hall again, back the way I had come.

The adrenaline was wearing off and I was beginning to feel the effects of everything that I had put myself through in the last five minutes.

I was still _freakin_ trembling!

A part of me died with every step I took in that direction, yet I couldn't do anything at all.

I didn't have the energy any more. My muscles ached and my head pounded and my chest hurt and my mouth stung. And let's not forget the fact that I was scared as hell.

What was she going to do to me now?

As my incoherent mind tried to come up with possible scenarios, she gave me a slight shove in the back. Probably wanted to get to wherever we were going a little faster.

Well too bad for her because my motor coordination skills were totally messed up by now. I stumbled and collapsed to the cold, stone floor with a startled yell. As I had fallen, her knife had nicked me on the side of my neck, deep enough to draw blood.

I raised my hand to the new wound to stem the flow of blood as I tried to push myself back on my feet using my other arm.

Bad idea.

The arm gave out under me and I fell once more. This time face down.

I felt the tears stream down my face as I lay there motionless, trying to will the pain away.

Trying not to move.

Or breath.

I just wanted it all to end…

_**A/N: You guys probably want to come after me with pitchforks and flaming torches, right?**_

_**Hehehe… I'm sorry but I can't help it. **_

_**Anyhow people, the poll so far is a tie. I have an equal amount of votes for all three options, so you more of you guys are gonna have to tell me what you want.**_

_**Once again, you can tell me options via Review, PM or the poll on my profile.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Tell me what you think of it, k?**_

_**-Nims.**_

_**Next up, it's Fai's and Sakura's turn to tell the story.**_


	8. Chapter 8

It was the next evening when Fai-san approached me with Syaoran's sword. He had refused to do it the previous night stating that I was still in a state of a mental shock and that I would not be able to bear the strain the spells were going to put my mind through.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked me, a look of sadness crossing his face.

"I am." Two words.

Two words was all it took.

A soft sigh escaped his lips as he looked at me with such sorrow, such melancholy that for a split second, I had half a mind to take it. Tell him that no, I didn't really want it. But then the moment was gone.

People changed.

So had I.

No matter what happened, I would never go back to being the sweet, innocent girl I once had been. I had to learn to adapt if I wanted to find Syaoran. And if I wanted to survive in this world.

"I'm really sorry Sakura-chan," Fai said as he pulled me into a tight hug, burying his face in my hair.

After a minute or so, he stepped back, taking my right hand into his own.

"It will be better if you sit down while I perform the spells," he instructed me gently, not letting go of my hand.

I complied, seating myself on the brown leather couch. He placed himself before me, still holding my right hand. He held out his index finger and the middle finger in the air in front of me. I felt the tingling sensation of magic being summoned as blue Celesian runes emerged from the tips of his fingers. Ribbons upon ribbons of those symbols materialized, snaking towards the sword he had earlier deposited in my right hand.

The characters danced across the metal's surface, making the sword glow bright silver. As the light faded away, I noticed that the runes themselves had turned gold. They slowly rose from the metal's surface, making way for new ciphers to take their place. The same procedure continued repeating itself over and over again for almost ten minutes, the air between me and Fai-san filled with those mysterious golden-colored letters.

Even in the dull light cast by the small energy saver on the roof the words glowed ethereally, presenting such a beautiful sight that I could have stared at them for hours and hours. However, I was quickly distracted from my admirations of those small magical runes when I felt a smarting sensation envelop my right hand. The feeling then began creeping upwards, towards my wrist, then elbow, then upper arm. Looking down, I realized that the runes had actually been absorbed into my skin.

Their bright gold contrasted sharply with my pale, only slightly tanned skin. The symbols slithered higher and higher till they disappeared underneath the sleeve of my shirt. They soon emerged again on my other arm and judging from the tingling sensation I could feel everywhere, they had probably covered my entire body.

Soon however, the tingling vanished; in its place there was the feeling of being pricked by thousands and thousands of microscopic needles. The sword in my hand began melting into my skin as a warm blue glow enveloped my arm. I felt it grow hotter and hotter, reaching an almost burning intensity before vanishing without a trace. By now the pinching feeling was gone as well.

I felt exhausted all of a sudden, exhausted and sluggish. As if I had been working non-stop for many days and now my brain had had enough and was forcing a shutdown.

"Sleep well Sakura-chan," I heard Fai-san say softly as darkness covered my eyes and I slumped forwards. Then, I knew no more.

_Fai's POV:_

I closed the door to her room as silently as I could, even though I knew that Sakura would most probably be out for the rest of the night.

The spells that I had used, they sort of cloned the information into a person's body, however this was a very tiring process.

I felt extremely tired myself but I had to get Sakura to bed since I couldn't have left her lying on the couch while I myself would go to sleep in a bed.

Funnily enough though, I never made it to the second bedroom, my body collapsing on the carpeted floor of the living room. I tried getting to my feet so I could go to my room or rather the room me and Syaoran had shared before, but it seemed as though my brain had other plans.

Like shutting down, for instance.

I passed out on the floor.

_It was snowing; hundreds upon hundreds of soft, cold snowflakes fell from the sky._

_I observed the scenery surrounding me. Tall snow-covered pine trees were the only thing that was visible for a mile to my right; to my left, however, were the crumbling ruins of an ancient castle._

"_Fai…" My eyes widened in shock. I knew that voice. _

_It was…_

"_Fai!!" it screamed my name in fear._

_Before I knew it, I was running towards the castle like a maniac. I had to get there. But for some reason, I kept tripping over the roots that seemed to materialize out of thin air._

"_F-Fai…" the voice calling my name was sobbing now._

_I was running pell-mell, not caring how many times I fell. I always got to my feet to continue dashing between the trees._

"_Fai…" It was so faint. As if it was fading away._

"_I'm coming!" I yelled but no sound escaped my mouth. My hands automatically flew to my throat. Why couldn't I speak? What was wrong with me? "Hold on!" I tried again, but the result was failure._

_As I neared the ruins, a black glow began emanating from the structure. _

"_No!" I wanted to scream, but I was mute._

"_You will be too late." A maniac female laughter filled the air around me._

"_No!" I yelled, rushing inside the now crumbling castle, not caring if one of the falling rocks would end up crushing me. I had to get there._

"_Too late Fai." That singsong voice and laughter was everywhere, drowning out everything else. _

"_Shut up!" I ran down the stairs that fell away behind my feet. "Shut up!!"_

"_There is still time," I told myself. "I can make it."_

"_No you can't," the invisible female taunted with another laugh as though she had heard me._

"_Shut the F**K UP!" _

"_Not gonna happen." She continued taunting. There it was. That black steel door. The bright white light overhead showed me bloodstains covering the entire passageway._

_I ran and ran but the distance between me and the door never shortened. It was always out of my reach._

"_Fa..i…" Oh God! It was so weak._

"_I'm coming!" I yelled but my voice was no longer there._

"_Give up Fai."_

"_No!"_

"_You'll always be too late."_

"_NO!!"_

_In a flash, I was at the metal door. Without a second thought, I gripped the blood-coated handle and slid it open._

_A bloody, broken figure lay in a heap on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding it. The face before me was hollow and sunken, cheekbones jutting sharply against a sickly pale skin with purple, green and yellowing bruises. There were deep gashes on one cheek and blackening burns on the other._

_The chest was heaving weakly as if every single breath that was drawn was a huge effort and the person in front of me did not have the energy to continue the action for long._

_A pair of dull amber eyes was staring unseeingly in my direction as a badly mangled hand tried to reach out for me._

"_F..a..i…" They breathed out before those eyes rolled back in their head and the hand fell limp, midway._

"_Too late Fai." The woman cackled next to my ear as I fell to my knees. "You were too late."_

"Fai." Someone shook my shoulder, "Fai, wake up."

I opened my eyes slowly to find a pair of worried green eyes hovering inches from my face.

"Good morning Sakura." I did not force myself to smile like I normally would have; the horrible dream was still too fresh in my mind.

"Are you alright?" she asked helping me to my feet.

"I don't know Sakura." I replied.

"We'll find him Fai-san." She gave me an encouraging smile.

"I'm sure we will Sakura-chan." I averted my gaze, unable to look into those hopeful jade orbs. She lingered around me for a while.

"I'll make breakfast." She finally announced, understanding that I did not want to talk about it. It was something for which I was really grateful.

I needed some time with my thoughts, alone.

"I'll go freshen up." I told her, heading off towards the bathroom.

_Sakura's POV:_

I watched him walk away.

Worry gripped my heart.

He was extremely pale. And when he had woken up, his eyes had been gold.

Did Fai have a nightmare of some sort?

Fai. I was calling him by his name once again.

This world did not use the honorifics system. At first, we had all addressed each other the way we normally did, with honorifics and everything but as we kept searching and interacted with other people in this world, we had to stop.

The honorifics drew attention and Fai and Syaoran wanted as little attention as possible.

We had stopped using them outside but once back in our apartment, we would revert to using them. It had felt strange not to.

Obviously, I had already been calling Syaoran by his name and he had been doing the same for me but in Fai's case, we had always used the honorific.

But after a while, I guess, we just sort of grew used to calling each other by our first names.

"Sakura, are you feeling tired?" Fai asked as he entered the kitchen.

"No." I shook my head, quickly setting the plates on the table. I guess I had spaced out for a while.

"Are you sure? Because you can rest for a while and I'll go search by myself." He said, pulling the fridge open.

"Fai, I'm sure." I said, taking the eggs from him as I turned the stove on. I poured oil in the pan and cracked the eggs on top of it, turning the flame on low to retrieve the bread but Fai had already placed it in the toaster.

I caught him looking at me with a worried expression.

"I'm well-rested, Fai-san." I gave him a smile. "And I need to go look out for him too."

He gave me the same sad look he had given me last night before nodding in acceptance of my decision.

It was eleven a.m. by the time we finally left the apartment. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt under a white jacket. My hair, which had grown long enough to reach just a little past my shoulders, was pulled back into a ponytail.

The reason for this choice of clothing was that they were a lot easier to fight in as compared to frocks or skirts. Not that I would know since I had never fought before but it seemed like the most sensible choice.

I accompanied Fai to the slightly shadier parts of the city since he had said he had some guy looking for information over there. In fact, we had been heading to meet that guy when those thugs had come after us two days ago.

"Sakura, I can't leave you out here since it won't be safe for you to stay alone," Fai told me in a low voice as we neared a rundown building. He cast a wary glance in the direction of the filth-covered man lying on the sidewalk. There were homeless people everywhere around there. The guy ignored Fai and gave me a very strange look but abruptly looked away when he caught sight of a glowering Fai.

I had never seen him so angry before; his eyes were golden with cat-like slits and his teeth were bared, his fangs visible in the sunlight. Ever since Fai had gotten his magic back, he had never let his vampire side show like that.

"But I need you to stay on your guard, alright?" he continued. If looks could kill, that man would have been dead a thousand times over.

"Alright."

_**A/N: There you have it. The next chapter.**_

_**I hope you found it enjoyable enough to leave a review or two. **_

_**Next time it will be Kuro's turn to tell the tale.**_

_**Oh and by the way guys, the poll is **_**still**_** a draw. But now it's just between two options instead of three. Half of you want him dead and half of you want him to live. Make up your mind already people, cuz I can't move past chapter fourteen until you guys do. (Um, yeah… I've actually written that much. ***__**sweatdrops**__***)**_

_**So anyhow, I'll repeat the option for voting once more: Syaoran's fate**_

_**a) He gets saved before something really bad happens.**_

_**b) He get's saved but he's no longer what he used to be. **_

_** i) His spirit is broken**_

_** ii) He is maimed**_

_**iii) He ends up comatose**_

_**c) Sakura and Fai fail to get to him on time and he dies. **_

_** i) They find his dead body (kinda like what happened with Kurogane)**_

_** ii) He dies after they find him**_

_**Yeah, so now the options have sub options. I'm really sorry guys that I'm asking you to vote again and again but well, various scenarios are playing in my head and while I'm more inclined to doing a couple of things, I still want you guys to decide what should happen.**_

_**You can still vote on my profile or via review, whichever you prefer, is up to you. Just so you know by the way, if that if the tie doesn't break by the time the next chapter is posted, I'm gonna remove all other options and have a final tie-breaker poll and all previous votes will be ignored since there will only be two options for that, and all of you will be required to vote or… or… um, Mokona will pop out of you screen and devour all your cookies. ***__**Shot**__*****_

_**Wow, I should really stop typing before this A/N get's any longer. **_

_**Ciao!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I'm back. And here is the next chapter as promised. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far.**_

_**I'd like to thank everyone who's added this to their alerts or favs so far. This chapter is dedicated to all of my faithful readers out there. ^_^**_

_**Enjoy!**_

"Get the F**K away from me!" The kid hissed angrily as his fist found its home in that witch's face. I grew concerned for the kid when he attacked the fallen witch, his fists flying.

His ribs were broken. This was not going to end well for him. But he kept at it for a while before freezing up. His eyes looked wild with anger but then something else sparked in them.

Joy.

He was happy.

What for, I had had no idea, till I followed his line of sight and found myself staring at the corridor outside.

"Here's your chance kid, get out of here!" I yelled at him, hoping he might be able to hear me again. I was still shocked that the kid had listened to me earlier with the whole breathing thing. Not only that but he had answered me as well.

He could hear me!

Or at least he had at that time. I had tried talking to him afterwards, as he had sat on that table for hours. But he had given no reaction to my voice. Guess I was back to being a mute.

The kid punched the witch in the gut before staggering outside. His face glowed in bliss as he sped along the corridors. Or at least tried to.

But then the witch was there in front of him in an instant. And a split second later the kid was on the ground. I swear even Fai couldn't move that fast when he let his vampire side take control.

"I don't think so…" she said softly, lowering her face next to his. The look of hatred that flashed on the kid's face should have burnt the witch to ashes, but she merely laughed.

"My, my. Not leaving so soon, are you?" she asked him in a tone that one might use with a six year old. She wiped her eyes, shaking her head. "And we were just going to get to the best part."

"Come on kid. Get up." I encouraged him as Syaoran tried to get back on his feet.

Wordlessly, he rushed towards her. I had seen the witch move and I knew that he stood no chance. But I still hoped that maybe, just maybe he might be able to make it.

Just like with everything else, I just had to be shown how wrong it was of me to hope.

She had pinned his arms to his side, holding him in a tight hug of sorts.

"Let him go you bitch!" I yelled uselessly when I heard Syaoran give a weak cry. He was trembling so badly.

It broke my heart to see the kid in such a state but apparently that wasn't enough for someone else.

The witch drew a small knife and pushed it inside his mouth. Syaoran's eyes grew wide in fear.

"Now, now… settle down…" She whispered softly, making something crawl up my spine. "You're just going to make things worse for yourself…"

Worse?

I did _not_ like the way she said that.

The kid tried to stay as stiff as possible but his body kept shivering.

"Now then," she gave a dark chuckle, "will you cooperate?"

I could only watch as blood trickled down the kid's chin.

That bitch was going to slice his mouth apart!

I might have rushed at her in an attempt to hit her, but I was a ghost. I'd just phase right through her.

"How about now?" she moved her hand slowly, pushing the knife deeper. "Will you cooperate?"

I saw tears form in his eyes as he bobbed his head slightly, once.

He looked just as helpless as I felt.

Neither of us could do anything!

She pulled the knife out, holding it to his throat instead, leading him back to that dark room.

The kid looked exhausted. And scared. But I guess that wasn't enough for the witch.

She shoved him in the back only to cause him to collapse on the ground with a surprised cry.

I saw her knife cut the side of his neck. Luckily enough, it managed to avoid any major arteries but it still bled.

Using one hand to stem the flow of blood, Syaoran tried pushing his body off the ground using only one hand but his trembling arm gave out and he fell to the ground.

I saw tears stream down his face as a look of hopelessness overcame him.

"Don't you dare give up, kid!" I yelled, my hands clenching into fists at my side. "They're coming for you. Keep it together!"

But he never heard my yells.

"Where the %^&8 are you mage?" I hissed under my breath, watching the pitiful form of my apprentice lie unmoving on the cold floor.

I began seeing double again, the brightly lit corridor overlapping with some rundown part of the city outside.

Judging from the position of the sun in the sky, it was somewhere around noon. And walking just a few in front of me were the mage and the princess.

As the room vanished from my vision, I decided to follow the two, knowing it would do me no good if I just kept standing there.

They had walked in relative silence for a while before the mage spoke.

"Sakura, I can't leave you out here," he said, casting a glance around them, eyeing a filth covered hobo warily. The hobo in question ignored him completely, choosing instead to give the princess a lewd stare. Instantaneously, the mage let his vampire side show, no doubt to scare the guy.

The hobo took a sharp intake of breath once he saw his snarling face with bared teeth.

"But I need you to stay on your guard, alright?" he said softly as he continued glaring at the man who had most probably by now wet his clothes. Fai, however, kept his eyes on the man, turning his head to keep that man in sight even after they had passed him. Finally, with a sigh, he turned back to look forward, his eyes flicked back to their normal blue.

"Alright." The princess answered as her eyes hardened a bit.

After that they entered the building. I followed them as they made their way through the dank, moldy corridors, climbing up two flights of rickety stairs. The mage led her down the corridor, stopping outside the door at the very end. He stood there, staring at the peeling paint for a while before knocking smartly on the door.

Some shuffling was heard on the other side of the door before it was opened a crack. Small beady black eyes peered outside before shutting it and unbolting the locks.

"Oh, Mr. Flourite!" the small man with a balding head and very large front teeth exclaimed as he opened the door widely and led them inside. I followed.

"You didn't show up the day before yesterday, I thought something might have happened." He said, quickly fastening the locks once again. "Where is your friend Syaoran today? Oh and who is this lovely young lady?" he asked, spotting Sakura and eyeing her hungrily.

"That's my sister, Peter," Fai said in an icy tone. "And as for my friend, do you have the information I asked you about?"

"O-oh. Forgive me miss." The man, who, for some reason, reminded me of a rat, said as he quickly averted his eyes.

"The name, Peter. What is it?" the mage asked in a tone I had heard him use only in Infinity.

"It's some immigrant witch," he answered, fumbling with his hands as his beady eyes darted all around them.

"I know that already," Fai said as he took a step closer to the man. "What is her name?"

"A-Akira," he stuttered.

"Aki-ra." The mage almost choked. For the first time in ages, I saw fear in his eyes.

"Fai?" Sakura asked, resting a hand on his arm to bring him out of his daze.

"Where can I find her?" in a flash Fai was holding the small man in the air by the scruff of his neck.

"I-I.. s-she…" he spluttered.

"Where?!" he snarled impatiently.

"S-she..."

"Tell me!" he shook him violently.

"Fai." Sakura said in alarm. Neither of us had ever seen him this violent.

"Tell me," he seemed to have come to his senses as he stopped shaking the mousey man and spoke in an eerily calm tone. "Where can I find Akira?"

"S-she… I-I don't know where to find her." He answered, shaking like a leaf. "But her minions can be found in an abandoned factory outside the town."

"Tomorrow," Fai said in a dangerously soft manner. "You will take us to them, you got that?" With that, he let the man drop to the ground.

"Let's go." He told the princess as he turned on his heels and walked back.

The princess cast one last look at the shaking man on the floor before following him outside.

"Fai-san, what was all that about?" She asked quietly once they were back in the busier parts of town. The mage however seemed lost, deep in thought.

From his reaction to that name, I'd say that somehow the mage knew that witch. Akira.

But why did he react so violently? What else had she done?

"That witch is someone from Celes." He answered her after a very long time. "I thought she was dead but apparently she managed to escape to this world. She's a convict, a murderer." He continued, walking through the crowds, not really caring where he went. "She drains the magical essences of other mages to grow stronger."

"But Kurogane-san was not a magician." She cocked her head in confusion.

"There was magic in his blood." The mage shook his head. "His mother was a miko. A priestess. Someone who possessed great magic."

"She is a psychopath," Fai whispered softly. "Normally she kills her victims on the spot. But if she kidnaps someone, it means that she plans on keeping them alive for some time. Long enough to drain them more thoroughly."

"What does she do to them while they're in captivity?" she sniffed softly, wiping her eyes as she walked.

"…"

"Does she… t-torture them?" she asked hesitantly, as if afraid that saying it out loud would make it happen.

"We'll find him" was the only answer the mage gave her. "I promise you, Sakura-chan."

That night I heard the princess cry herself to sleep. Such a thing had not occurred since Infinity; and even back then, the mage had stayed by her side. But tonight, she was alone.

My thoughts drifted back to the kid and the condition he had been in when I had vanished.

I wish I could have comforted her in his place.

Well, what do you know? Kurogane Suwa wanted to comfort someone.

With a soundless sigh, I got up from my place next to the princess's bed. Her breathing had evened out, but even in her sleep, she would sob occasionally.

Without even a ruffle of my clothes, I phased through the wall shared between her and the mage's room.

He was sitting there on the bed, his head in his hands. His skin was pale and for some reason, he looked very old.

He looked tired. Exhausted.

It had been that way ever since he had heard that witch's name.

I wish I could ask him who the hell she was and what connection she had to his past. But that would be something convenient, wouldn't it? Which is exactly why he couldn't hear me.

I felt like laughing, remembering another instance when I had wanted to ask him something similar. This seemed like another Ashura episode all over again.

However, this time, he didn't seem to be running away from her.

"I'm not going to fail _him_ too." I heard the mage mumble.

"You won't." I said reassuringly, unsure why I did that; after all, I knew I didn't exist for them anymore.

However, I was surprised to see the mage stiffen all of a sudden. His skin turned chalk white, as he lifted his head and looked around the room with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"K-Kurogane?" he breathed.

_**A/N: Hehehe… a cliffy. Don't you guys love me when I do that?**_

_**It turns out Kuro is not as mute as he thought he was. Syaoran had heard him. For a while at least. But what about Fai? Can he hear him too? Will Kurogane be able to tell them about Syaoran or will I just snuff out his little ray of hope?**_

_**Find out the answer to this and well, probably a few other questions in the next chapter. Just a little forewarning people, where one question is answered, two more are bound to arise cuz that's just the way I write. ;)**_

_**Please drop by and leave a review. Tell me what you think.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Hi everyone! My finals are finally finished and to celebrate my newly acquired freedom of twelve days, I bring you all the next chapter of Dead. **_

_**This chapter is in Fai's and Sakura's POV.**_

_**Tell me what you think, k?**_

_**Enjoy!**_

It was close to midnight and I still couldn't get myself to sleep. With a sigh, I sat up, swinging my legs to the side of my bed.

It had been Akira all along.

Even now I wasn't sure how she had managed to escape from Celes, but one thing was clear. She was here. In this world.

And she had Syaoran.

My thoughts drifted back to the dream I had had last night.

I put my head in my hands, pressing the palms of my hands against my closed eyelids remembering those dull amber eyes staring at me.

"I'm not going to fail _him_ too." I told myself forcefully, trying to will myself to believe my words.

_You won't._ I heard a faint voice say.

My body stiffened automatically.

It couldn't be…

I raised my head and scanned the room with disbelieving eyes.

It just wasn't possible.

"K-Kurogane?" I breathed.

There was no answer.

"Are you here?"

Nothing but silence.

I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Maybe I even did that; I don't know. My mind was in too much turmoil.

Akira was back. Syaoran was missing. And I was beginning to lose my mind.

Great!

Just great.

Now who the hell was going to look after Sakura?

She might have Syaoran's knowledge and skill now, but she was still my princess.

I had to keep it all together. For her sake.

"I can't believe I'm going crazy at a time like this." I mumbled, pulling the covers over my body as I turned over to lie face down.

_I was back in the snow-covered field. Behind me I heard the castle collapse on itself. In the snow next to me, the bloody motionless body stained the whiteness a deep crimson. I looked at my hands, only to find them painted with blood._

"_How does it feel, mage?" She stood before me, her charcoal eyes alight with mirth as her raven hair billowed about her face, catching the falling snowflakes. "Losing someone close to you? Knowing there was nothing you could do to save them?"_

"_You $%^&!!" I snarled, feeling my magic crackle all around me. "I'll kill you."_

"_By all means High Mage," she laughed. "Do try."_

_Hatred so great, so powerful that I had no choice but to give in, overcame me. With an enraged growl, I summoned magic to my command. The Fluorite stone at the tip of my staff cracking under the strain it was put under._

_For a second, time itself stopped as I stared in those black holes. Then she laughed and time moved again._

_I threw everything I had at her; every single spell that I had ever learned, making up new and more deadly combinations as I went along._

_My chest was heaving as I looked down at her smirking figure. She was bleeding, but an expression of triumph was still on her face. _

"_You lose mage," she cackled, as her body began to glow black. Yes. Her body glowed black._

_My eyes widened in shock as the energy condensed inside her for the millionth part of a second before she let it all out._

_The explosion that followed destroyed the entire field; the trees, the castle, everything was gone. A huge crater was all that was left behind in its place._

_And her wild cackle surrounded me._

"_You'll never make it mage," she laughed, "you'll always be too late."_

I bolted up in my bed. Sunlight was pouring in through my window. Heaving a sigh, I got to my feet, walking to the bathroom, lost in thought. Once I was done, I walked to Sakura's room. I knocked on her door but she gave no answer.

Finally after telling her that I was coming in, I opened the door.

She was lying on her bed, curled up in a ball. On her cheeks there were trails of dried tear stains.

"Sakura-chan," I shook her shoulder gently, "wake up."

"Syaoran…" she mumbled gently before opening her eyes blearily. "Oh." She blinked a couple of times.

"Good morning, Fai." She greeted softly. I spotted her bloodshot eyes, but she quickly turned her head away.

"Good morning, Sakura." I greeted her, pretending to not have noticed anything. "I'll get breakfast ready, you should freshen up. We'll be leaving shortly."

"Ok." She nodded.

_Sakura's POV:_

I knew that Fai knew I had cried last night. But I was grateful that he did not bring it up.

I'm sure he already knew the reason for my tears so…

We had a quiet breakfast after which we left for Peter's apartment. Half an hour later, we were following the small man to the outskirts of town. Every now and then, he would cast wary glances around us, as though expecting an attack.

After walking for another fifteen minutes, we found ourselves standing outside a wrecked factory with rusty chimneys and shattered glass windows.

"This is the place." Peter told us, stopping outside, his eyes darting all around us.

I wondered what it was that had him so scared but before I could ask, I heard footsteps approaching us.

"Good work Peter." It was the bald-headed man with dark skin, the one who had followed me and Syaoran two days ago.

Fai stiffened next to me.

"You." He breathed, narrowing his eyes.

"Hello again, High Mage." The man smirked in his direction.

"Where is Akira?" Fai hissed, his eyes once again flickering to vampire mode.

"You seem to have surrounded yourself with quite powerful magicians," he said, looking in my direction. "But no one can stand against Akira. I thought you had gotten the proof back in Celes."

In a flash, Fai rushed forward, his clawed hand threatening to gouge out the other man's eyes. "You didn't answer my question."

"That is for me to know," he dropped to the ground, slipping through Fai's grip. He swung his leg around to kick out Fai's legs from under him but Fai just jumped out of the way. "And for you to find out."

Fai clapped his hands together to summon Ginryuu as he took up a stance.

The sound of more approaching footsteps was my cue to summon Syaoran's sword. I copied the motion I had seen him perform countless times before and felt the tingling sensation in the middle of my palm as the sword began materializing in a flash of blue light.

Even though I had no idea what to do, my body seemed to move of its own accord, taking up a stance like Syaoran's.

I gripped the sword tightly in my hand, waiting for one of the three men encircling me to attack. They had their own weapons in their hands. One man had a black metal spear with a jeweled tip, another had two short swords, one in each hand, and the last one had a katana.

They all attacked at the same time. Once again, without really thinking about it, I ducked under the spear thrust towards me, rolling out of the way as the dual short swords landed in the place where my shoulder had been a second ago.

Still on the ground I swung my leg around, throwing the man with the spear to the ground.

Surprisingly, I blocked the katana as it tried to hack my arm off. For some reason, I found myself grinning. But it wasn't an innocent, happy grin. It was the feral, bloodthirsty kind of grin; something that would have looked out of place on the face of the old Sakura.

But not this one.

I sensed the short sword coming for my unprotected side but I flipped out of the way.

The men must have been magicians themselves because their respective weapons began glowing with magic. I turned my head in Fai's direction, only to see him parrying five opponents at the same time, including that dark-skinned magician.

A blast of magical energy that nearly blew my head off made me focus back on my own opponents. They were all observing me, as though trying to assess the amount of damage I could cause. _I _might not have been able to do much but I knew that Syaoran could easily have taken them down, which meant that I could do it just as easily.

_Fai's POV:_

The dark-skinned magician was the most powerful amongst my opponents and it didn't surprise me at all. That much was to be expected of Akira's apprentice.

I ducked to avoid the swipe aimed for my head. While still in a crouch, I spun around, swinging my leg upwards to hit the apprentice straight in the chest. Another kick aimed at his legs sent him crashing to the ground.

Flipping to my feet, I brought my blade around me in a half-circle, slashing it at one of my other opponents. With a pained cry, the man dropped his sword, choosing instead to nurse the bleeding stub that was once his arm.

I allowed myself a grim smile.

Two down, three to go.

For a second I turned my head in Sakura's direction only to find her holding her own with ease. Once assured that she won't need my help anytime soon, I returned my attention to my own opponents.

The apprentice had backed out for a while, leaving his three underlings for me. One of them aimed his sword for my heart but I managed to avoid it without much effort. A quick, hard blow to the skull and the guy was out like a light.

His partners did not take kindly to his fate and rushed at me not a second later.

I calmly dodged the onslaught dropping my shoulder. I rammed it into the stomach of the bulkier of the two men remaining standing, flipping him over my back. The guy crashed into the wall behind me, knocking part of it down. The bricks landed on top of him, burying him underneath.

"Not putting up much of a fight are you guys?" I said in a bored tone, letting some of Kurogane's cockiness show. It always intimidated your opponents.

The last guy tried to catch me in a headlock by dashing in my direction but I was faster. I dipped out of his grasp so quickly that he was left with nothing but air to clutch at.

He swung his arm around in an attempt to punch me but I caught his arm, swinging him around me twice before letting go. He sailed through the air, funnily enough, crashing in the wall at the same place but a little higher. The top part of the wall gave way as well, raining a barrage of bricks on top of the poor guy beneath him.

The apprentice rushed forward. Apparently he had had enough. He tackled me with an inhuman speed, knocking me to the ground, beneath his weight. Luckily, I recovered pretty fast, managing to get my legs between myself and the man on top of me. I flipped him off of me and jumped to my feet.

Without waiting for even a second, I spun around, letting the magic build up in my sword.

"Hama-Ryou-Jin!" I cried out, releasing the locked energy. The apprentice brought up his own sword, cutting through the attack. Time stood still for a while as we locked our narrowed gazes.

Now it was only me and him.

_Sakura's POV:_

Once more, the men lunged at me at the same time. Funnily enough, this time around, I was hard pressed to keep up with them for several moments. I didn't have any time for conscious thought, only movement as I twisted, turned, jabbed, sliced and kicked.

Landing on one knee, I ducked under a swipe aimed for my neck, but could not avoid a thrust that cut through the right shoulder of my jacket and shirt, drawing blood.

Wincing slightly, I forced myself to push the pain to the back of my mind as I rolled with the blow and easily dodged another.

Getting back on my feet, I brought my forefingers to the blade of the sword in my hand. Energy built up in the blade as my fingers tingled with the sensation of magic. The men attacked once again just as I released the magic.

"Raite Shourai!" I yelled, summoning lightning to my command. The force of the spell knocked down two of the men but the third one managed to jump out of the way in time.

I was a little surprised when the spell worked, because I had never thought Fai's spell would have cloned Syaoran's ability to use elemental magic into my body as well. Oh well, now I had some really powerful attacks at hand.

I fought the man before me for quite a while, neither of us managing to beat the other. But then the impossible happened as my sword sliced through the man's chest. He gave out a strangled yell as his blood sprayed my face. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.

Something exploded in the distance but I had frozen right where I stood.

I had just killed a man.

I brought one hand to my face only to see red staining my skin.

My eyes widened in shock and fear as my body began to tremble, the horrible sound of flesh and bone being cut by metal ringing in my ears over and over again.

I heard Fai call out my name but his voice was so far away as well.

There was only one thought running through my head.

I killed him.

I killed someone.

I …

"Argh!"

Something hit the back of my head. I staggered, swaying dangerously as I turned around. My vision was blurring and I was beginning to see double.

I saw Peter's grinning face as it swam before my eyes. In his hands was a brick with something red coating it.

Blood.

That was my blood on it.

I didn't understand it.

Why had Peter hit me?

Wasn't he on our side?

"Sorry princess," he grinned, looking down at me.

Strange.

When had I fallen to the ground?

"I'm just following Akira's orders."

I'm pretty sure, I heard him say Akira. So he was working for the witch.

The witch.

She had Syaoran.

"Syao…ran…" My grip on the sword loosened as the world went black all around me.

_Fai's POV:_

We were both at a standstill, assessing each other warily, sweat rolling down our bodies as we breathed heavily. We were both tiring out, but I had more stamina than him, a plus point of being a vampire. Or so had I thought.

The minute he used a spell way above the level of an ordinary magician, I knew it for a fact that Akira was sharing her stolen magic with this guy.

The factory behind me exploded in flames as I dodged the attack.

"That ninja's skill won't save you from Akira for long," he commented casually as he rushed towards me.

"But I don't rely on Kurogane's skill alone," I said, summoning my own magic to my hand. My eyes darted in Sakura's direction to check on her status but what I saw made my blood run cold.

Peter. He was creeping up behind her with a brick.

"Sakura watch out!" I yelled but she didn't appear to have heard me.

She was just staring at her own hands as though she was seeing them for the first time. Or that was what it looked like initially. There was something at her feet.

A bleeding, motionless corpse lay on the ground, a deep gash in its chest. I understood the reason for her shock.

The Peter's brick came down on her head as she gave a small cry. She wobbled on her feet, turning around to face the man.

My anger flared up, amplifying my spell. I allowed the ribbons to snake in the apprentice's direction but the bastard just dodged them.

I turned my head in Sakura's direction again, only to see Peter slinging her across his shoulders.

"No!" I ran towards him but the apprentice blocked my path.

"What, aren't you gonna finish the fight?" he said, blasting dark magic in my face.

I flew back several feet in the air before colliding painfully with one of the still standing beams of the ruined structure behind me. I felt blood trickle down the side of my face, mingling with my sweat but I paid no mind to that.

I staggered to my feet, clutching the sword even tighter. I looked up to see the apprentice smirking while Peter scampered away with Sakura.

I couldn't let them take her away too.

I had to protect her.

I had to get to her.

But my mind was fuzzy and incoherent.

I must have hit my head pretty hard.

_What the hell are you waiting for mage!_

That sounded so much like Kurogane.

"I'm going Kuro-tan," I mumbled absently, not paying much attention to the words that had come out of my mouth.

I raised my forefingers, allowing blue ribbons of Celesian runes to surround me and Akira's apprentice.

"You're finished!" The symbols clung to his body, encasing him in ice right where he stood.

Without wasting another second, I ran in the direction Peter had gone but he was nowhere to be seen.

I let my vampire senses take over, checking the air for the scent of Sakura's blood.

He had gone in the forest behind the factory.

I turned and ran, my fingers digging into the palm of my hand clutching the sword.

I jumped over the overgrown roots, ducked under the wild branches. Soon, he was in my line of sight. I let magic crackle all around me as I moved.

My vampire instincts had kicked in ages ago, so I managed to dodge the spike of ice that came at me from behind.

"I don't have time for this." I growled, hurtling spell over my shoulder at the apprentice coming after me.

_**A/N: A cliffy! Yeah, I'm still pretty evil to leave you all hanging but…**_

_**So, Sakura just got badass. Sort of. She accidently killed a man but, he was evil anyways sooo…**_

_**Who is the person Fai keeps seeing in his dreams? Is it Syaoran? Or someone else. Knowing me, you never know but still, would anyone like to guess?**_

_**Can Fai get to Sakura in time? Or will she end up in Akira's clutches as well? And what about Kurogane? Will he ever be heard?**_

_**Find out the answers to all these questions and a couple more next time. Till then, don't forget to drop by in the review room and tell me what you think.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Yo! Rejoice my faithful readers for a new chapter is here.**_

_**And its Syaoran's turn to tell us what happens. Yay!**_

_**And I answer a few of the questions that I asked at the end of the previous chapter.**_

_**But as usual, new questions arise to take their place. ***__**Shrugs**__*** oh well, that's just the way things go in my stories.**_

_**I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it.**_

_**Don't forget to leave a review.**_

The witch dragged me back to my feet but I didn't have the strength to remain standing anymore. I slumped against her, which just made her laugh that sick laugh.

"Tired already?" she whispered in my ear, leading me through the corridors. Any sense of direction evaded me till I was standing in front of that metal door.

Inside, the flickering light bulb illuminated the metal table. A harsh twinge of fear struck me.

No… Not that again…

But the witch just cackled at the look on my face.

"No, we're not doing that again." She spoke softly. "I have something more fun planned out."

She turned me around and marched me down the hallway, then around a corner before coming to a stop outside an identical black metal door. She flicked her hand and the door slid open.

It was completely empty, save for a pair of shackles attached to the end of a chain hanging from the roof. And the room was lit by, once again, a flickering light bulb.

What is it with those stupid light bulbs?

I couldn't do much to oppose her as she swiftly grabbed my hands and cuffed them together. Once she was done she let go of me and I immediately fell on my knees, unable to fall any further because the chain held my hands above my head.

The ribs poked me and I gave a weak cry.

"Oh, did I mention that I used a spell on your broken ribs?" she said gleefully as she walked over to a lever in the wall next to the metal door. "No matter how much they stab you inside, they won't pierce anything."

So that explained why I didn't have a punctured lung by now.

She pulled the lever and I heard the cranking of shafts and the squeaking of gears in the wall before the chain began to ascend. I was pulled back on my feet and soon I was dangling on my toes, my feet barely able to touch the ground.

My chest protested the position I was in by sending sharp spikes of pain everywhere.

My eyes watered as I panted in an attempt to breathe; my body twisting against my binding in an attempt to balance me.

"There." She announced happily as she walked back towards me. She was smiling again. "All done.

Without even thinking about it, I spat the blood out of my mouth but she jumped out of the way.

I glared at her angrily as she just laughed at me, moving close enough to ruffle my hair with her hand.

"You are a very amusing boy." She chuckled, dropping her hand to her side. "And you remind me a lot of another amusing pet I used to have."

"…"

"I gave the mage an entire week to rescue that pet, you know." She told me in a matter-of-fact way. "But he failed." She shook her head as she paced in front of me. Her gaze then travelled to me, her eyes hardening as she spoke. "He was too late."

In less than the blink of an eye, she was right before my face. "I wonder if he can get you out in time."

Something silver flashed in my line of sight before the cold blade created a searing hot slash across my skin. I gasped as the blood began flowing from the shallow but painful cut.

"Don't think I take kindly to being hit." She hissed angrily in my ear. The wooden hilt of the knife slammed into the wound and I couldn't stop myself from crying out. Once the pain lessened, I glowered at her through watering eyes as she pulled away from me and stood before me.

"Like I care about that." I tried to snarl but the effect was ruined due to the fact that my voice was hoarse and weak. But that didn't bother me much. At least I had overcome my fear.

I didn't know why but for some reason, I no longer felt afraid. Maybe it was because I had managed to hurt that witch in return for what she had done to me. Or maybe it was something else. But for now, I didn't feel the fear I had felt in that room where I had been electrocuted or the fear that I had felt outside in the hallways.

What was even better was that my body was finally under my control. Well, sort of.

I wasn't shaking anymore!

She slapped me across my face, her face twisted in fury.

"I thought I told you never to use that tone with me." She hissed, grabbing hold of my chin and forcing me to look into her chilling black eyes.

"Like I said," I hissed, narrowing my eyes as I met her stare. I was past caring what she did to me. I was done being scared of her. "I don't care."

Unnervingly fast, a smile broke out on her face.

She fingered the knife in her hand, observing it with the same fascination that a six year old might have with a lighter. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye before flicking the knife in my direction. I clenched my teeth in hopes of stifling the yell as the blade buried in my upper thigh.

Her hand moved idly over the hilt of the embedded knife before her fingers curled around it.

In an almost bored manner, she twisted and turned it, this way and that. My muscles were alive with pain but I forced myself to keep my mouth clamped shut. But even then, I couldn't stop the strangled noise from escaping my throat.

I felt fresh tears slide down my cheeks as she continued jostling the knife. Finally, she pulled it out of my leg. My head spun as a wave of dizziness rolled over me.

"Maybe I should put you out of your misery," she said thoughtfully as she ran a finger around my wound. It stung like hell but I just kept my jaw clenched. "It's not like the High Mage is ever going to figure out where we are."

"They _will_ come." I said through gritted teeth, not sounding very convincing.

"Oh?" she cocked her brow, grinning madly. "It doesn't sound like you believe that very much."

I didn't answer, choosing instead to screw my eyes close when her finger dug inside the cut. I bit my lip. Suddenly her finger disappeared and a sheet of something cool began to envelop me.

I opened my eyes to see black runes surrounding my whole body. I felt them pull at my very core, shredding the fibers apart, searching for something.

A prod here, a poke there and I knew what she was looking for. The source of my magic!

She was going to steal it away!

I screwed my eyes shut once again in concentration as I began to resist her spell.

I was not going to lose it to that witch.

The poking grew more insistent, tugging and pulling apart the shields I erected to protect myself. I grit my teeth, giving my all into opposing her. I heard her give an enraged cry as she doubled the force of her spell. But I still held on.

It continued this way for a very long time. My brain was pounding against my skull but my body felt numb. Just when I thought I was going to lose, the witch released the spell.

I forced my eyes open and looked at her blearily.

Her face was red with anger as her figure shook with barely suppressed rage.

"Just like that witch." I heard her whisper. "You _will_ break… Just like that witch..." Her smoldering eyes met mine as her voice grew louder. "The mage won't save you!" she yelled angrily as a black mist began forming in the air before me.

The next few second passed in slow motion as the mist condensed into pitch black petals made out of some dark liquid. They hovered in the space between us as the witch observed me with cold eyes. Tantalizingly slow at first, the petals floated towards me, circling all around me.

My body swayed slightly, the chains tugging at my wrists, sending sharp pinches of needles down the length of my arms and sides.

And then the petals shot towards me.

Wherever they touched my flesh, hot sparks of fire erupted as the black liquid clung on to my skin. Like tar. But unlike the sticky liquid, this substance burned. Hoarse screams echoed all around me and it took me a moment to realize that they were mine.

The witch was laughing again.

God! How I hated that laugh.

I twisted around where I hung, my wrists rubbing against the cold metal of the manacles holding me above the ground as I became enveloped in a shower of excruciating pain. I was no longer aware of the passage of time but finally my legs gave out under me, only the shackle holding me upright. My shoulders were threatening to break apart as I writhed in agony, the black acid sizzling my skin, leaving behind bleeding burns.

It felt like I was on fire, my tormented cries ringing in my ears. That mad woman's delighted laughter was the last thing I was aware of before it all became too much for me to take and I blacked out…

"Enjoying yourself boy?" her breath tickled against my ear. I opened my eyes, only to see the petals vanish all around me.

My whole body trembled as I panted; I felt blood run down my arms. And face.

"Would you like to see your precious girlfriend again?" she said, running a finger along the length of my cheek.

"You… Stay the hell… away from her!" I pulled against my restraints, not caring if I ripped off my hands in the process. I'd kill her if she so much as laid a finger on Sakura.

"Or what?" she laughed, watching me struggle as she stepped away from me.

I chose not to answer her, doubling my efforts to get free. The look on her face grew bored after a while.

"Enough," she said forcefully, raising a hand and my muscles froze. I couldn't move.

She slid the door open and walked out, coming back inside not more than a minute later.

In her hands was a long medical syringe filled with some sort of grey-colored liquid.

I tried forcing my muscles to move but they didn't even twitch as she neared.

"Do you know what this is?" she said, raising the needle to my face.

"…" no sound escaped my lips.

"What?" she looked at me with mock disappointment, "You don't even want to hazard a guess?"

"Fine," she smiled, taking my chin in her hand, "I'll just let you find it out on your own."

She repositioned her hand next to my eye, pointing the silver metallic end of the syringe towards my eye. Instinctively I clamped my eyes shut.

"Now now," she let go of my chin, I felt her fingers over my closed right eye, "You'll never find out this way." She pulled my eyelids apart, forcing me to look at her deranged grin.

She stayed that way for a while, letting me struggle against whatever spell was holding me in place; but no matter what I did, it wouldn't budge. And then she stabbed the needle in my eye, forcing the liquid inside. Black clouded my vision but I knew I wasn't passing out. It was the liquid.

She was blinding me!

I felt her pull the needle out before grabbing hold of my other eye. She repeated the process, rendering me unable to see anything.

I opened my eyes to their fullest extent but there was nothing but black to see.

Horror struck me.

I was blind!

She released the freezing spell, allowing me to shake like leaf. The shackles were cutting painfully into my wrists but I didn't care…

I couldn't see.

No matter how hard I tried to stay calm, I couldn't. I was beginning to hyperventilate. My breaths came in short gasps as I glanced wildly around me, my heart and mind both racing; I was panicking.

There was nothing to see, no way of knowing what she was going to do to me next. I heard her footsteps move away from me, towards the metal door.

"Don't worry boy, you'll see her sooner than you think." I heard her slide the door shut and then I was alone.

I stepped around the floor lightly, trying in vain to keep myself steady, to keep the weight off of my wrists. To stop straining my chest but it was no use. I wavered on the spot, like a lone banner, fluttering in the winds of a bloodied battlefield.

My eyes were still wide open in hopes of seeing something, but even with a flickering light bulb overhead, there was nothing but darkness for me.

-0-

"Syaoran…" her soft voice reached my ears.

"Syaoran…"

"Saku-ra?" I whispered hoarsely, lifting my head up in hopes of seeing her beautiful face but I couldn't.

"Oh Syaoran." I heard her sniffle from somewhere to my right. I turned my head in the direction of her voice.

"Sakura, are you alright?" I asked her praying that it wasn't the witch that had brought her here.

"I'm fine but…" she cried. "Oh Syaoran…"

"Don't worry Sakura." I lied, in hopes of reassuring her that my bloody body did not feel like it would fall apart any second. "It's not as bad as it looks."

My throat was parched and talking to her was a big effort on my part. But I couldn't tell that to her. I licked my cracked lips trying to return some moisture to them but it wasn't of much use seeing as my mouth was just as dry.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her instead.

"I-I…" she sobbed, "That bald man, he knocked me out… and then he brought me here…"

"Did the witch hurt you?" I felt rage blind me.

Hah! Blind me.

I was already blind.

"N-no. She just… locked me in this cell…" She answered. "I'm chained to the wall…"

That would explain why she sounded far from me. But I felt relieved. At least she wasn't hurt.

But if Sakura was captured and brought here then…

"Where is Fai?" I asked, fearing the worst but hoping that the cold dread in the pit of my stomach was nothing more than that. A bad feeling.

"S-she.. The witch…" she hiccupped loudly. I could imagine her pale face wet with tears, her eyes puffy. I wanted so badly to be able to comfort her. "S-she… She killed him." She wailed loudly.

My whole world was frozen as my mind went blank.

She… killed him?

No.

No!

"Syaoran…" she kept sobbing, but I was in shock. My muscles stiff, I tried to say something but my mouth kept opening and closing and no sound came out.

Fai-san… was dead.

_**A/N: Bet none of you were expecting that! I just killed Fai! And Sakura is in Akira's hands! And Syaoran is blind! And Kurogane is… still dead! *Shot***_

_**Lolz… hehe.. Erm yeah. Review if any of the above mentioned statements caught you by surprise while you were reading the chapter. Also review if any of the above mentioned statements made you want to kill me while you were reading the chapter. And please review if you have a twisted mind like mine and enjoyed reading the chapter. ;)**_

_**I just hope none of you are planning to join the angry mob once again, cuz I really don't like bloodthirsty angry mobs that are out to get me because I put my favorite characters through so much pain. I have a twisted mind people. Deal with it. ;)**_

_**And don't try to kill me for it. Because if you do that now, what are you going to do when you read what happens to them in the coming chapters? Trust me. You wouldn't wanna kill me before you read the upcoming chapters.**_

_**I should really stop rambling at the end of each chapter and keep these author's notes short and to the point. Hmm… I probably should. Oh well, this one is already too long and well… I should probably go now.**_

_**Till next time.**_

_**Ciao!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: A new chapter is here! Rejoice! ;)**_

_**I noticed something. Whenever I tell the story from Syaoran's POV, less people review the story as compared to when I'm writing in Sakura or Fai's POV. Why is that so? Do you not like it when Syaoran tells his sad tale?**_

_**Anyhow, it's Kuro's turn to tell us a story. Hope you guys enjoy it.**_

_**Read and please leave a Review.**_

_**Now, on with the telling…**_

_**Enjoy.**_

I was frozen in shock for a moment; he had actually heard me.

"Are you here?"

He heard me!

"Yeah, I'm right here." I tried to keep the excitement out of my voice but what the heck. Finally, after six months, someone was able to sense me around. How could I not be excited at the prospect? If you find it so hard to believe, try being a ghost for the better part of a year, with nothing more to do than tail your friends around while they don't even know you're there.

I'm pretty sure there was big enough an excuse for me to act this way.

But much to my frustration, he gave no further reactions. If anything, a look of disappointment and despair overcame his features.

"Hey mage!" I yelled, waving my hand in front of his face but he just ignored me. "Oye, I'm right here you idiot!"

He just blinked a couple of times, his initially shocked and hopeful expression completely gone.

"I can't believe I'm going crazy at a time like this." He sighed before lying back down in his bed.

"No!" I yelped. I couldn't believe it. Not again. I couldn't stand being this way anymore. Why was I even around there? "Hey!" I tried shaking him but my hands just flew right through him. "Can't you hear me?"

Why did it have to be this way? For second, I had believed that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to help them find the kid since I knew where he was. Well sort of. I could at least give them clues to work out the location of the place the witch was keeping him at.

"I'm standing here!" I shouted in frustration. "Look at me you stupid mage!" I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. Why did it have to be this way? "I'm right here you idiot! I'm right… here…" I sighed, finally realizing it was of no use.

Whatever it was that had caused him to hear my voice, it was gone now.

I slumped down the wall next to his bed. Funnily enough, I didn't phase through it. In a few minutes, the mage was asleep and I was alone. Not that I had them with me otherwise.

I mean I'm a freaking ghost! No one can feel my presence. No one can see me and except for a couple of accidents they never even hear my voice. No matter what I do. No matter how much I yell or shout or try to create a ruckus, I don't exist for them. Not anymore. I'm nothing more than a friend who is gone from their lives forever…

Nothing more than a silent spectator, watching the events unfold from the sidelines.

"Damn it all…" I breathed, letting my head collide with the wall behind me.

-0-

The following day I tailed Sakura and the mage as they made their way over to that rat's, Peter's, apartment. I don't know why but the moment I had laid eyes on that man, I had gotten a feeling in my gut that told me that that man couldn't be trusted. The mage was normally very good at judging people, so I wasn't quite sure of why he was putting faith in this guy.

The air about this guy, it reminded me of someone who would end up stabbing you in the back. And I was proven right when he led them to an abandoned old factory on the outskirts of town and that Akira's apprentice showed up with her henchmen.

After exchanging a couple of words, Fai was locked in a battle with the apprentice and four other guys while Sakura was left to deal with the remaining three.

She took up a stance as that witch's minions approached her. In her hand was Syaoran's sword and she was holding it with the poise and refinement that only a top swordsman could posses. That idiot's spell did a wonderful job. At least now I wouldn't need to worry about her safety. Much.

It looked like she knew what she was doing. Moving into the perfect stance, making it seem natural enough to fool the onlookers into believing that the kata might have been drilled into her from a very young age. She observed her opponents warily as they circled around her with their weapons on the ready.

The three bastards attacked at her at the same time but Sakura gracefully ducked under the spear thrust towards her neck and rolled to the right to avoid the dual short swords aiming to slice her shoulder off. She then kicked the man holding the spear to the ground and protected her arm from being hacked off using the sword to block the incoming katana.

Slowly a feral grin formed on her face, reminding me once again of how much that girl had changed in the past six months. This Sakura was so different… So unlike the girl I had traveled with.

This girl, this princess, she seemed to almost enjoy herself as she fought those three, elegantly dodging the attacks, effortlessly blocking the sword thrusts and impressively slashing her own sword, attacking them with a ferocity I had never seen in her before.

The mage seemed to be holding his own against his opponents as well, he had already taken two of them down. I noticed the apprentice standing a little way off to the side, observing him fight with the underlings.

Fai threw one of the men into the wall behind him, knocking him out as the wall crashed on top of him. The other one met a similar fate not a couple of minutes later. It was then that the apprentice moved in to attack.

He tackled Fai to the ground but the idiot managed to throw him off, once again using my family's special attack to knock him down. Or rather, try to knock him down since the apprentice succeeded in deflecting the attack with ease.

Stupid magicians and stupid magic.

I cast a glance in Sakura's direction and was pleased to see that she was managing it nicely. She knocked two men down using the kid's elemental attack. I must admit, that idiot's magic _is_ pretty impressive.

The princess ducked and swirled and parried with the last man left standing, but then, with one swift move, she sliced clean through the guy's chest. My jaw would have dropped to the floor if it could have.

Did she just _kill_ a man?!?

Apparently, I wasn't the only one shocked by this action since the girl literally froze up, looking at her bloodied hands in disbelief. I saw the rat move towards her with a brick raised but she did not move. She didn't even hear the mage when he yelled at her like the world was coming to an end.

The brick came down and the princess stumbled after giving a small cry of pain. She collapsed on the ground. I looked back; the mage was still busy fighting the apprentice but at the same time trying his best to get to her as that buck-toothed bastard picked her up and ran towards the forest.

"He's getting away you idiot!"

Said idiot ran after the pair but his path was blocked by that apprentice.

"No!" he cried as the distance between him and the rat grew further.

"What, aren't you gonna finish the fight?" the apprentice said as he blasted the mage into the factory wall with his dark magic. He staggered to his feet, his blue eyes fixed on the quickly receding backs of Sakura and her captor.

"What the hell are you waiting for mage!" I yelled angrily as I turned around and hurried after them myself.

I think I could have imagined it but I swear I heard him respond with a soft "I'm going Kuro-tan".

By the time I looked, he was already casting some sort of spell.

The world around me began to phase once more, transiting into a dark room lit by a flickering light bulb.

Before me now was the bloodied body of my student who was hanging from the roof by his wrists. There were black, glowing petals whirling around him in a wild flurry. Where ever they touched his body, they would leave behind an ugly burn which oozed his blood.

He was screaming; his cries echoing off the empty wall around us but his voice was so damn hoarse.

His wrists were cutting against the metal shackles holding him above the ground as he thrashed weakly. After a while the cackling witch released whatever spell it was and the petals disappeared.

The kid hung limply, his head rolling over his chest as he gasped for air. Blood dripped down his arms and face and every other visible part of his body.

"Stay the hell away from him you crazy bitch!" I growled, putting myself between her and the kid. I don't know what I hoped to accomplish from that since she merely walked through me.

She walked through me as if I wasn't even there.

Which, if I thought about it, I really wasn't, but that's beside the point.

I was beginning to tire of all this. Of seeing them all so torn apart and hurt. And something inside my head told me that it was all because of me. Once upon a time I had slain so many, without a second thought. Enjoying the blood I shed. All in the name of gaining power and becoming stronger.

But I had changed, hadn't I? I thought I had managed to atone for my sins.

And even if I hadn't, why were the ones I held precious being used to punish me? Why were they the ones who had to suffer for me to learn my lesson? Surely there could have been other ways.

I never thought fate could be so cruel. But now, when I looked at the weak, quivering form of that once proud and determined boy, I couldn't help but wonder.

What had _he_ done to deserve all this pain and suffering? This was supposed to my punishment, wasn't it? Then shouldn't I have been the one hanging from those chains? Why was it that my life had been ended in less than a second while he was made to suffer for every breath that he drew?

"Would you like to see your precious girlfriend again?" I heard her whisper softly behind me.

"You… Stay the hell… away from her!" I don't know how he managed it, but the kid seemed to have drawn on hidden reserves of energy as he struggled furiously against his bonds, his amber eyes burning with hate and there was so much venom in his tone that I couldn't believe that the witch was still standing.

"Or what?" she chortled as Syaoran kept pulling on the chains. Fresh blood began flowing from the cuts on his wrists but he didn't appear to have noticed.

She raised her hand and the kid froze. "Enough!" she growled quietly before she walked out of the room.

She was back in less than a minute with something similar to a hypodermic needle in her hand. Inside there was a grey-colored solution.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked the question that had been on the tip of my tongue as she raised the needle next to his face for him to look at more closely.

When he didn't answer, I figured that she had completely paralyzed his body, rendering him unable to speak.

"What?" she pretended to look let down but that crazy grin gave away her delight. "You don't even want to hazard a guess?"

"Fine," she breathed after a while, as she took the kid's face in her hand, positioning the needle next to his eye, "I'll just let you find it out on your own."

Drawing the same conclusion as me, he scrunched his eyes close, hoping to somehow protect them from what she was about to do.

"Now, now." She admonished him, as if he was a six-year-old boy who had done something wrong. I grit my teeth in anger as she moved her fingers to his right eye and forced it open. She forced the needle inside his eye, emptying half of the syringe before pulling it out and doing the same thing to his left orb.

The kid strained his eyes in an attempt to look at something, anything. But I could see the grey clouding his previously amber eyes.

That f**kin bitch had just blinded him!

With an enraged cry, I threw myself at her grinning face as she watched him with a satisfied expression. But just because I was ready to rip her head off with my bare hands, why would this time have been any different? None of my attacks even managed to touch her, passing through her like thin air.

The sound of Syaoran's pants and my own curses were the only sound in the room. At least for me, they were. For him I think it was just his own shallow breathing. Soundlessly, the witch turned around and walked over to the black metal door. Sliding it open, she stepped outside, "Don't worry boy," she said consolingly, "You'll see her sooner than you think."

My gaze traveled back to the kid, who was stepping around on his toes in a vain attempt to keep his body steady; maybe trying to lessen the strain on his chest and wrists. His unseeing eyes were still wide open, as though he hoped to regain his sight just by forcing them to look long enough.

I felt so sorry for him. And I really wished there was some way for me to help him.

"Kid, can you hear me?" I asked in a soft whisper but he didn't answer.

"Hey. I'm here you know." I tried again. Once again, I got no reply.

"Kid?"

"…"

"Come on, damn it!" I yelled angrily, punching the wall next to me but my fist flew right through it. "I'm right here! Why can't you hear me now?"

"Damn it all!" I hissed as I watched the kid who seemed to be in a self-induced daze.

"Saku-ra?" It was several hours later when I heard him croak her name in a weak voice. I looked up from my spot on the floor and saw his face alight with hope as he gazed in the right corner of the room. I followed the line of his sight and found nothing more than dust to look at.

"Kid who the hell are you talking to?" I walked over to him, waving a hand in front of his eyes but they did not follow the movement of my hand.

"Sakura," his voice was still hoarse but now it was filled with worry. "Are you alright?"

"Who the hell are you talking to?" I looked around in confusion but there was nothing there.

"Don't worry Sakura." His tired but reassuring tone made me look back at him. Really look at him.

Despite his general pallor, his skin was flushed. He was breathing heavily and I could see beads of sweat rolling down his body, mingling with the dried blood, creating trails of red-tinted water. At first I thought that maybe the kid had a fever but when I looked closely at his face, I noticed that even though his eyes were cloudy and unfocused, his pupils were dilated way beyond normal.

Just what the hell had that bitch put in him?

"It's not as bad as it looks." He spoke in the same throaty voice, licking his parched and cracked lips with an equally dry tongue. Not only that, but his cheeks had started hollowing and his eyes had sunk in their sockets.

It was only now that I had noticed these changes. I don't think he had had anything to drink ever since that witch had brought him here so I could easily tell that he was dehydrated. It must have been at least four days now. Maybe five. How much longer would he be able to hold on?

Obviously the lack of water and whatever the $%^# bitch had put in his eyes was making him hallucinate.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the thin air.

"Kid," I addressed him gently. "She's not here." He ignored my voice. Not that I had been expecting anything different. He was definitely not in the correct state of mind but...

"Did the witch hurt you?" his face transformed into a look of rage.

"Oye, Syaoran!" I uselessly tried shaking his shoulder. Maybe a small part of me was hoping that I might be able to hold him and that might jolt him out of whatever illusion he was seeing. "Sakura is with the mage."

His expression grew concerned as though he had just realized something.

"Where is Fai?"

"This can't be good," I muttered, watching the kid talk to nothing but an illusion in his mind.

Whatever the answer his delusional mind had received it had not been good news since, since the kid just froze up; a look of disbelief on his face as he stared blankly ahead.

"Syaoran. Oye!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "It's not real. Snap out of it."

"This is definitely not good." I muttered, feeling a wave of cold dread wash over my body when the kid gave no response, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. Like a fish out of water.

_**A/N: Yes, Fai is still alive. You can put down those pitchforks and torches now. **_

_**So tell me, how many of you readers out there actually believed that he was dead? I really wanna know so please tell me. **_

_**Also, I'd like to ask a question. How many of you can tell me who I built Peter's character on? I mean it's just this world's version of another character in a really popular series. (I've given you more than enough hints. Care to take a guess?)**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait guys, but here's the next chapter. I've tried keeping Fai and Sakura in character and I think I might have succeeded but I'll let you be the judge of that.**_

_**Read and review.**_

_**Enjoy.**_

I was lying on my side, on a hard surface.

It was cold. Freezing cold.

Every muscle in my body was stiff. And I could feel a dull throb at the back of my head.

Once I opened my eyes, I realized that a stiff body and a headache were the least of my problems. I was trapped. Inside a dome of ice!

My breath fogged before my face as I forced myself into a sitting position. Slowly I got to my feet and walked closer to the wall of frozen liquid. In the distance I could hear the clang of metal against metal along with the crackling sound of magic as it whizzed through the air. I turned my head towards the source of those noises and I tried my level best to stifle a scream but a strangled cry managed to escape my throat all the same.

There, lying just outside the sheet of ice, was Peter. Or well, what was left of that man anyways.

His dead, unseeing eyes were wide open in shock and disbelief. There was a gaping hole in the man's chest. Kind of like the one I had seen on Kurogane-san's body. The rest of his form was mangled beyond recognition.

Immediately, I averted my face from him but the nauseous sight did not leave my mind. I doubled over, feeling extremely sick; I threw up. Once I was done, I wiped my mouth, carefully making my way around the mess, steering my gaze clear of the sight of Peter's corpse, choosing instead to search for Fai.

He was locked in a deadly battle against Akira's bald apprentice; both of them moving like they wanted to kill the other, which obviously they did. They were both injured; I could see a long bleeding gash running down the length of Fai's arm and there was particularly nasty cut reaching from the other man's right shoulder blade to the middle of his back.

But they were still going at it, hurtling spells and physical attacks alike. This went on for quite a long while but in the end it appeared as though the apprentice had had enough. He wrote a transportation spell in the air and vanished in a wisp of rainbow-colored smoke.

"Fai!" I cried when it looked like Fai was about to go after him. His hand froze in mid-spell as he whipped around to look at me.

"Sakura-chan!" He said as he hurried over to my side. His hand touched the dome and the ice melted where it was, fading away into nothingness. "Are you alright?" he asked me, concern written all over his face.

"I'm fine but," I hesitated, my eyes traveling to his bleeding arm.

"Don't worry about it." He answered with a small smile, raising his hand to write a spell in the air. The ribbons of magical runes swirled in the air before me, spinning tighter and tighter until Syaoran's sword was in their place. "You dropped this." He said, handing me the sword which was still covered with blood.

I felt my stomach heave one more time; I turned away from him and once again emptied the contents of my stomach. The sword was still coated in the blood of the man I had killed.

"Sakura?" Fai's hand was on my back, rubbing it in a soothing motion.

"Fai-san… I-I… I killed… I killed that man…" I whispered, noticing how my body was trembling.

"…" wordlessly, he pulled me into a hug as I kept shivering. His grip only tightened once I started sobbing; he buried his face into my hair as I clutched onto him in desperation. He let me stay like that until I had cried myself to exhaustion.

"I am so sorry Sakura-chan." He whispered as the blue runes of his transportation spell surrounded us and we moved back to the apartment. He gave me another cup of that steaming liquid, which now I suspected was some sort of calming potion since I became really drowsy once I had drained the mug. I felt my already tired body just droop where I was, seated on the sofa.

He, however, supported me to my bed, his injured arm rendering him unable to pick me up. Once I had somewhat ungracefully slumped in, he took off my shoes, I think; my mind was too groggy to really understand anything that was happening. The last thing I remembered was him tucking me in before I fell into a dreamless slumber.

-0-

Once I had shut the door to her room, I made my way over to the washroom, carefully peeling off my shirt as I went. The cut I had received was quite deep and it was still slightly bleeding, if not much.

The spirit stung as I cleaned the wound but I paid no mind to the pain, my thoughts wandering elsewhere.

Poor Sakura, she had wielded Syaoran's sword but I had known it even before I had used the cloning spell that she would never be able to take a life. Injure her opponents perhaps, but never kill them.

What had happened today had been an accident, of that I was sure. But it had still shaken her to the very core.

After all, taking a life was not a very easy thing to do for those who were innocent and pure of heart.

Sadly, there wasn't much that I could do to help her. As much as it killed me, that was her decision. There was no going back now… For either of us.

A small hiss of pain escaped my lips as I reached the deepest part of my wound. Gritting my teeth, I cleansed it, letting my hand perform the action on its own as I willed my mind to drift.

The dream from last night surfaced once more, a gaunt, deathly pale face ghosting before my vision. Empty, lifeless amber eyes were gazing right through me.

"I won't let it happen again," I whispered under my breath as I took a couple of steps back, my back colliding with the tiled wall as I slid down to the floor. The apparition continued staring at me. "Not this time. Not again." I whispered, closing my eyes but those hollow orbs followed me to my mind's eye.

"I won't fail him too." The face that was haunting my thoughts did not leave on hearing my promise.

_You'll never make it Mage._ Akira's voice cackle all around me. _The boy is mine._

"Get the f**k out of my mind you witch." I growled. "I _will_ find the place where you're keeping him. And when I do…" I let my threat hang in the air.

_You never learn Fai._ Akira simpered. _You're destined to fail the ones you care about. Didn't that witch's death prove anything to you?_

I let out a low hiss as a warning.

_Or perhaps that Ninja's? _She continued.

"Shut up." I snarled feeling rage boil my blood.

_Guess not,_ she said rather carelessly._ Well I suppose I will have to use the boy to make sure the message gets home._

"I will find you," I spoke softly, my voice barely above a whisper. "And when I do… I will rip you to shreds."

_I'll look forward to that day Mage._ She answered, all traces of humor gone from her voice. _The day when I erase you from existence. _

"You will be the one who will be erased."

_We'll just see about that, won't we, High Mage?_ She breathed.

"We will," I confirmed.

_Oh and before I go._ She chirped. _I think I should let you see the boy._ As she spoke the words, the image of a dimly lit room flashed in my mind. A lone figure was suspended from the roof by chains using their hands.

Every visible inch of his skin was covered in black burns and blood. His wrists were rubbed raw, and I could see a gash in his torso from where his shirt was torn. His chest was heaving slowly as he took in shuddering gasps; but the thing that scared me the most was his eyes. `

They were nothing more than a pair of lifeless, hollow, amber orbs that were staring ahead, unseeingly. Right at me.

_Find him if you can Mage,_ Akira laughed. _ Time is running out. Tick-tock, tick-tock…_

"…" I clenched my fists in anger, feeling fresh blood begin to ooze out of the cut that I still had to bandage. The connection severed and I was left back to staring at the pale, off-white tiles of the bathroom wall next to me.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I forced myself back to my feet. I couldn't lose it now. It was exactly what Akira wanted. I needed to find him. She was right, time was running out.

I opened the medical cabinet and drew out a small roll of white gauze. I tried somewhat clumsily to wrap it around my arm but no matter what I did, it always came undone. With an annoyed grunt I wrote out a simple spell in the air and soon, I had my wound tightly wound in the bandages.

I tried moving my arm and let out a short hiss.

Damn.

It hurt.

I wasn't any good when it came to healing spells. Something that I regretted to this day. If I had been, maybe things might have turned out a bit different.

But since I wasn't, here I was, standing in the middle of the dark kitchen with nothing but moonlight providing luminescence in the room through the parted curtains of the living room window. I opened the topmost cabinet and withdrew a number of herbs. Taking a pan from the stand next to the stove, I filled it with water and added the herbs as I turned the flame on. Every now and then, I would add a spark of magic to it, waiting as the water boiled.

Finally, when the potion was complete, I poured it in a mug and headed back to the leather sofa in the living room. I leaned against the back, resting the warm cup against my leg, closing my eyes as I let my thoughts wander. Not wander aimlessly like I had been doing previously, but wander with the purpose of search in mind.

I was looking for Syaoran's magical signal. Every magician, weak or strong, had a distinct signature to their magic, kind of like a person's fingerprints. Completely unique.

I opened the physical barriers to my mind and stretched it all over the city. I picked up the leftover traces of his magic in the street where he had been kidnapped. Ordinarily, those would have been impossible to find, but luckily, my magic was strong enough to detect traces of magic that was even months old.

While I couldn't deny that doing something like that was awfully tiring and required a great amount of concentration, I could still do it. My mind's eye roved over the entire cityscape picking up pretty much next to nothing.

I had to hand it to that witch. Akira knew how to make herself undetectable. I tried a different approach, she had used telepathy to connect to my mind, maybe if I could perform the procedure in reverse…

I recalled the distinct flavor of her magic, dark and tainted, mixed with the magic of hundreds of other magicians. But I focused on two particular signatures amongst those hundreds.

Two signatures that I had known for quite a long time and both of which had been stolen by her. One of them was Kurogane's. The other…

_Saku-ra?_ I heard a voice speak. It was so faint that for a second I thought I had imagined it.

…_re… right?_ There it was again. My heart skipped a beat.

It was Syaoran.

I'd managed to pick up his signal. Or well somehow connect to him on some level.

_Syaoran, are you there?_ I thought clearly.

…_orry… ura…_ well, I could pick up his voice but probably he didn't have enough coherence of mind to pick up on mine. Oh well, it was a start at least.

I tried focusing on his voice alone. He was somewhere in the western parts of the city. I tried closing in but was met with a sudden resistance and his signal blurred.

I backed up a little bit and it was clear once again. I went closer and immediately the barrier was up.

"So, she's set up wards." I muttered, as I opened my eyes and looked at suddenly cold mug in my hand.

I looked around the room and discovered that the silver light that had been illuminating the room previously was now almost gone. But the sky outside was still dark.

How long had I been searching? It must have been at least a couple of hours, I decided as I downed the liquid in my hand. The bitter taste stung in my throat but soon I could feel the pain fade away from my arm. There was just a dull throb left in its place that made me feel like my arm was pulsing. Or at least the cut itself was.

I cast a tired glance in the direction of the luminous wall clock. It was somewhere around four in the morning. So it had been more than a couple hours of search. No wonder my skull felt like it would cave in on itself.

"Don't worry Syaoran-kun. We're coming for you." I sighed as my eyes automatically drooped close.

"_I heard Ashura-ou was sending you out to track down that witch." I opened my eyes and saw myself standing at the balcony that overlooked a village. It was almost midday and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Pale wisps of clouds marred the otherwise fresh blue color._

"_Yes, he is." I replied, not turning around to look at person standing behind me. _

"_Can I come along?" she asked in a hopeful voice._

"_No." I answered immediately._

"_Aww... Why not?" She whined, jumping in front of me. "I swear I've been practicing really hard." Her wide amber eyes were so earnest and expressive. It hurt me so bad, as I looked into those eyes, knowing what had become of their owner._

"_Because the witch and her companion are very dangerous." I replied simply, trying to make myself look away. I could not bear to look at that face. So happy and alive…_

"_So?" she crossed her arms. "You're going."_

"_I can go because, unlike you," I answered in a light teasing voice, "I'm not an apprentice."_

"_That's not fair." She pouted, holding her chin high as she spoke. "I'm clearly above ordinary apprentice level."_

"_Hmm?" I grinned, cocking my head to one side. "And why is that?"_

"_Well," she answered simply like I was an idiot for not knowing. "I'm _your_ apprentice. That obviously means that I'm good."_

"_Good or not," I laughed, ruffling her hair playfully with my hand. "You're still in training."_

"_But I'm at C level." She protested with a scowl, glaring at me for ruining her hair. "That's just one level below D."_

"_Yes," I nodded, observing her as she undid the knot in her hair, letting them fall to their full length which was somewhere past her knees. The sunlight danced across her raven locks which were streaked with a deep crimson as she pulled them back in a ponytail. "But you're not a full witch yet."_

"_I won't get in your way. I promise." She pulled on the puppy-dog face. One she knew I couldn't say no to. "Please let me come."_

"_I'm sorry Masooma, but not today." I shook my head. Her shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Maybe if you can master the teleportation spell, I'll take you along next time." I added, taking in her crestfallen appearance. _

"_Promise?" She immediately brightened up._

"_Promise." I laughed._

"_Thank you Fai!" I was crushed in her tight hug._

"Syaoran!" Sakura cried from her room. In a flash I was on my feet, running towards her. I threw the door open and came face to face with a still sleeping Sakura who was thrashing wildly on her bed.

"Syaoraaann!" she screamed again, there were tears streaming down her cheeks so I knew she was clearly having a nightmare.

"Sakura. Wake up, you're having a nightmare." I said trying to shake the girl awake, my own dream completely pushed to the back of my mind in favor of waking her up.

"Syaoran!" she wailed, still caught up in her nightmare.

"Sakura, wake up," I patted her face gently as she sobbed.

"Fai… san?" she blearily opened her eyes to look at me.

"It was just a dream, Sakura." I was in a soothing voice as she buried her face into my chest.

"I-it was so…" sob "so real." Her muffled voice reached my ears.

"It's okay, it was just a dream," I repeated, rubbing her back consolingly.

-0-

_**A/N: It seems like Akira holds a grudge against Fai but at least Peter is dead. And Fai saved Sakura. And he also saw Syaoran. Kurogane unfortunately was missing, but he'll show up next time. (I think). **_

_**What was Sakura's nightmare? Will she be able to get over her shock of killing a man? (Even if he **_**was**_** the bad guy.) Will Fai be able to break Akira's wards and find Syaoran? Will Syaoran be able to hold on that long or will he break? Will Kurogane ever have another conversation? And what will Akira do now?**_

_**We'll just have to wait and see. ;) (You seriously didn't think I would tell you all that in one go, right?)**_

_**By the way for the readers of my other fics, I'm almost finished with the next chapter of 'Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles' and you will be seeing an update pretty soon. As for 'Whispers in the Dark', I'm still working on it, but it might be a while before the next chapter comes out. Also I apologize for not updating 'What the Hell?' but I've lost my notes for that story and well, I've hit a writer's block and until the time my muse hits me with a hammer on my head, I can't write that one. (Ideas for it would be more than welcome.)**_

_**That is all for now. I'll let you all head over to the review room and give me your loving reviews telling me how much you love my work cuz I don't think I did anything to deserve a mob coming after me in this one, right?**_

_**-Nims.**_

_**PS. For those of you who care, Peter is an AU version of Wormtail aka Peter Pettigrew. ;) **_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: Well I got nothing to say except here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to review.**_

"It's okay, it was just a dream," Fai said as he rubbed my back. But I couldn't feel it. I was still so numb.

"It was so real… so real…" I shook in his embrace as tears flowed down my cheeks, unchecked.

"H-he was there… And I… I-I… " I whimpered, "I-it was all so re-real…"

"It was just a dream Sakura-chan," Fai tightened his arms around me.

"…" for the second time in less than twenty four hours, Fai-san held me in a tight hug, letting me cry my heart out.

"It was terrible…" I whispered hoarsely after a very long while. "Syaoran's eyes… I can still see him falling. Over and over again…"

"Saku-" he started but I cut him in. I had to tell someone. Or I would go crazy.

"There was a hole in his chest… and his blood was pooling all around him as his body went limp… I saw the light fade from his eyes."

"Oh Sakura-chan." He sighed sadly but let me continue anyways.

"And there was a woman standing over him. _Laughing, _as she stabbed him again and again with his _own_ sword." My voice cracked. "Her back was towards me but then she turned around… Her face…" I shuddered, screwing my eyes shut. How could I tell him the next part? The identity of that woman. The one who killed Syaoran.

"Sakura, it was just a dream," he repeated as though saying that would make me get over it. I know he was trying to help, but it wasn't just a dream. Oh God! It had been so _real_.

"It was me!" I wailed as my eyes snapped open. "The one who killed him. It was me!"

He drew in a sharp breath letting go of me to look me in the eye. His expression was one of worry and alarm.

"I was covered in his _blood_!" I had no memory of getting to my feet but before I knew it, I was towering over Fai-san's frozen form. "And I was _laughing_! Like I enjoyed it every single time that sword pierced his flesh!" I shouted hysterically.

"I killed him Fai-san! I _killed_ him!" I shrieked feeling like my throat would rip.

"Sakura!" He said brusquely. His eyes were narrowed and his expression was… angry? "It was just a dream! You are _not_ a killer." He took a deep breath, trying to get his emotions in check. "You are not a killer," he repeated in a lower voice, locking his blue eyed gaze with me. "And don't you dare forget that." He spoke, almost desperately.

"But-" I choked.

"No." he whispered harshly. "It was not your fault. You're not a killer."

I wanted to believe him. I really did.

But I knew what I had done.

And no matter how many times he told me it wasn't me I couldn't deny the fact that I had killed a man.

-0-

I looked outside the window in her room and I saw the dark sky outside. It was still night-time but judging from the slightly bluing horizon, sunrise was not very far away.

She stood there, rooted to the spot next to her bed, as we both stared outside. I could hear the early birds chirping brightly to greet the morning sun. Soon, the color transited from dark blue to light purple to pinkish orange to gold and then finally a light blue.

"You should rest some more." I suggested, knowing that it wouldn't be of much use but we couldn't really go out in our current states. A couple more hours like this and all coherence would jump out the window. We were exhausted and overworking ourselves was not going to help. Or so I told her as I apologized and tucked her back in bed, drawing the curtains close so the bright light would not disturb her sleep.

I lightly tapped her forehead with my fingers, letting the magic flow as I cast a spell. Her eyes drooped close and her breathing grew even.

"This should keep the nightmares away," I whispered, to her or to myself? I had no idea. My feet padded quietly against the carpeted floor as I made my way back to the living room, slumping on the sofa I had fallen asleep on a couple of hours earlier.

Taking a deep breath, I forced all thoughts out of my mind, extending the edges of my mind. I was going to search for Syaoran one more time.

Luckily, this time I already knew the general location of his signal so I did not have to waste much time on searching through the whole city. I drew closer to the barrier, feeling his signal blur out once more. I backed away a bit, scrutinizing the barrier for a weakness. There was none.

I pushed against it, letting the feel of Syaoran's magic disappear as I put all my efforts into getting through the barrier. Like a sheet of elastic material stretched to its limit, the barrier pushed back at me, a sense of familiarity flooding my mind as I tasted this magic.

"That bitch." I snarled angrily as my mind identified aura of the wards. Akira had not used any of her own magic to set the barriers up; rather she had used the stolen essences. Two of them dominating over all the others. The two that I was most familiar with and feeling them oppose me was tearing up.

I grit my teeth.

They were gone. I had already lost two people to Akira. I was not ready to add Syaoran to that list. Relentlessly, I pushed on.

My head started throbbing, the ache intensifying to forceful pounding, yet I continued pushing.

I was not about to give up. Sweat beaded my brow, rolling down the side of my face as my body tried to keep up with the strain I was putting it through. My heartbeat fastened as my breathing grew heavier, but I did not stop. I knew I was pushing myself beyond my limit, but something about the condition Sakura had been in a short while ago did not let me discontinue.

The hammering in my head tripled in intensity, I could feel something warm trickle down my lip. From its scent my nose identified it as my own blood. But I could not stop, I was almost through.

With a cry I gave one last mental heave, feeling a sense of relief flood me as I got through to the other side.

_Let her go!_ I heard Syaoran's hoarse voice yell in my head as though he were in the same room as me. I saw a dimly lit room with him thrashing against his bonds. He was still hanging from the chain but now he was struggling and bellowing like the world was coming to an end.

_Kid! It's not f**king real!_ I heard a second voice roar in desperation and anger but before I could give the owner of that voice a name, my world went black.

I had clearly pushed myself too far…

"_She wouldn't have gotten away if you had taken me along," Masooma's teasing voice reached my ears. I was in the library with my nose buried in a book on healing magic. I was once again trying to learn something I clearly sucked at._

_I could not even perform a basic level healing spell. And yet I had somehow still managed to end up with the title of D._

"_Sulking, are we?" she laughed, pulling the book out of my hands._

"_No," I crossed my arms. "Studying." I corrected her._

"_How to perform healing magic?" she cocked a brow, reading the title._

"_I can still try to learn." I shrugged carelessly._

"_Hmm…" she nodded thoughtfully, placing the book on top of the dark wooden table before pushing herself on top of it as well. "So, how did it go?" she asked, her eyes alight with excitement. "I heard you single-handedly captured _alltheStealers_ except for one of the apprentices. A witch named Akira, I think."_

"_They didn't put up much of a fight for a bunch of magicians who stole essences." I answered with yet another light shrug. "But where did you hear all that? You were clearly not in the castle when I got back."_

"_I was practicing my transportation spells." She jumped back to her feet. "I think I've mastered long distance travel," she said with a satisfied grin as she pulled out a blue flower from her jacket. Its petals looked crystalline yet I knew for a fact that they were very soft to touch._

"_An ice-flower?" I questioned skeptically as I took the pale blue blossom from her hand and observed it closely. Its petals looked like crystallized ice but left a velvety feel against my skin. And not brittle at all. Yet they still felt cold in my fingers, like frozen water, thus the name ice-flower. "But they grow far south."_

"_Yup." She nodded happily. "So do you think I can move on to inter-dimensional travel spells now?"_

"_Maybe," I answered vaguely handing the flower back to her as I retrieved the book she had placed on the table. "I'll let you know about it tomorrow," I said as I climbed to my feet._

"_Faii…" she whined, sticking out her lower lip in a pout._

"_Tomorrow Masooma," I answered, once again ruffling her hair._

"_Hey!" she cried, ducking to escape my outstretched hand. She looked at me through narrowed eyes before bursting out into laughter. I joined in._

"_So tomorrow?" she skipped by my side as I pulled open the ornate double doors that led to the hallway outside._

"_Yes, tomorrow." I rolled my eyes in mock exasperation._

"_That means no sleeping in Fai." She chided._

"_Fai-sama!" one of the court magicians joined my side before I could respond to her. "Ashura-ou requests your company in the throne room. He's about to decide the fate of _the Stealers_."_

"_Of course." I nodded, steering myself in the right direction. Masooma followed wordlessly, her expression growing solemn._

"_I normally don't like it when someone is killed," she said softly, lowering her head to hide her eyes behind a curtain of her hair. "But for animals such as these," she continued. "There is no better punishment."_

"_I agree." I nodded gravely as the guards threw the doors to the throne room open._

"_Fai, Masooma, come." Ashura-ou stood next to his throne with a somber expression on his face. His eyes hardened as he looked back at the six men lined before him in magical shackles. The objects were designed specifically to restrain magic._

_After a short trial that involved the reading out of their crimes which included kidnapping, brutal, inhuman torture and murder of twenty magicians from all around Celes, they were given a death sentence. Their death would be by Saru, one of the deadliest and supposedly most painful poisons out there._

"_I think they deserve it," Masooma whispered from her place next to me. The leader of the group of those deranged magicians looked in her direction with wild eyes._

"_You're next pretty face." He grinned widely, not in the least bit fazed by the fact that would die in twelve hours._

_I stepped in front of her with a dangerous scowl fixed on my face, shielding her from his view._

"_Take them away," Ashura-ou ordered the guards._

"_She'll be next." His cackle echoed in the hallways as he was led to the dungeons._

"_She'll be next!"_

_If only I had not dismissed those words as an empty threat. If only…_

-0-

_The room around me transited yet nothing had changed. Much._

_I was still in the throne chamber, but now Ashura-ou was facing _me_ with a solemn expression._

"_How can it be?" I tried to keep my voice down. I really did but it still echoed in the cavernous room._

"_Fai, I have every court magician out there, looking for her," he said in a tired yet reassuring tone. However, the words had the opposite effect on me._

"_But I'm still here. Why are you not allowing me to join the search?"_

"_Akira wants you, Fai." He repeated what he had already told me at least a dozen times._

"_With all due respect, I can handle her, Your Majesty," I answered stubbornly._

"_Fai-" he began._

"_Please," I begged as my voice cracked. It was hard to keep my emotion in control. "It's my fault she was taken in the first place. She is my apprentice. She's my responsibility."_

"_Fai," he sighed, shaking his head._

"_Please Ashura-ou. Let me go look for her."_

"_Very well."_

"_Thank you, Your Majesty." I gave him a respectful bow before turning on my heels and walking out of the room. I still held the crumpled paper in my hand as I strode through the white marble halls._

Your Apprentice for mine, High Mage._ That was all the note said. I clenched my fists in rage, feeling my nails dig into my skin. I had been such an idiot. The witch who had evaded capture had been the real leader of that group. _

_And now she had Masooma._

-0-

_**A/N: Fai found out where Syaoran is being held. And he knows that the boy is not alone. And Akira's reasons for going after the group have been revealed. What's going to happen now?**_

_**Please let me know of what you think. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please leave a review because everytime you don't, a plot bunny dies. And we wouldn't want that happening now would we? Reveiws is what makes the plot bunnies thrive, so don't hesitate. Support the bunnies and help me take over the world. X_X**_

_**-Nims.**_


	15. Chapter 15

I could hear Sakura sobbing nearby but I was still in shock. And I was tired. And my body had no strength left in it.

"S-Syaoran?" She hiccupped. "I'm so-sorry Syaoran... I-I only wanted to f-find you…"

"Don't be Sakura." I breathed, forcing my sightless eyes to turn in her direction. It was a good thing that she didn't know I was blind yet.

"I-I'm sorry I co-couldn't save… y-you." She continued as though she had not heard me. "…I'm of n-no help at… at a-all and now… F-Fai-san is d-dead…"

"Saku-ra… Please," I tried speaking a bit louder; every word felt like sand paper scraping the insides if my throat but I continued anyway. This was definitely not her fault. "Don't cry."

"I'm s-so… sorry…" she sniffled. "I-I'm… so sorry…" she kept repeating over and over again.

"Sa-ku-ra…" No matter how much I tried, no sound came from my mouth after that. I continued gazing in her direction even though I could see nothing but darkness. In the end my body just gave up on me and my head slumped on my chest as I felt the world fade away.

"Syoaran!!" Sakura's shriek jolted me awake. I heard the sound of clicking high heeled shoes and I knew that the witch was back. But something felt wrong. She was not advancing towards me. Instead, she was walking towards Sakura.

"S-stay away from me! No!" Sakura cried as I heard her pulling at her chains. "No! Syaoran!"

"Sakura…" My voice was so weak. Pathetic. And my arms felt like they would fall off any second. My head was pounding, my eyes felt as if they were being stabbed by needles, my legs were already too numb for me to feel and well, I was basically a mess. But regardless of all that, I still pulled at my restraints, forcing magic through my veins to provide me with the strength I needed.

I knew draining my own magic when I did not have another source of energy for the time being was a really stupid thing to do, but what exactly was there to live for except for Sakura? Everybody else was dead.

"Stay away from her!" With magic coursing through my body, my voice came out much stronger and louder than it had in ages. "Leave her alone!"

"Syaoran!" Sakura screamed as the sound of a whip crack reached my ears.

"NO!" I released more magic, giving my all into breaking free. There was just one small problem in my plan; no matter what they show you in movies, metal always wins against flesh. The barely clotted cuts on my wrists began bleeding anew. "Leave her alone you f**king bitch! Leave her alone!"

"Syaoran!!!" She wailed as the whip sailed through the air and landed on her body. "Aaaargh!"

"Let her go!" though my voice was loud, it was still drowned out by the psychopath's insane laughter and Sakura's pained screams.

This went on for a long time and in the end even magic was not able to keep me conscious. Just before I passed out I heard Sakura's voice screaming my name, the witch's insane cackling and the sound of leather meeting flesh.

"Sakura…" I tried to stay conscious for her sake. I really did. But in the end, I was just too weak…

When I came to, I could hear Sakura's ragged breathing.

"S-syao- Syaoran…" she mumbled feebly. "I'm s-sorry…"

Why was she apologizing?

"I c-couldn't save you…"

No! It was _not _herfault! Why did she keep on repeating it?

"Awww… isn't that cute." The witch's whisper sent an involuntary shiver down my spine. My whole body was aching so badly. Probably a side-effect of pumping raw magic into my system. "Your girlfriend thinks it's her fault the mage died. Why don't you tell her whose fault it truly is?" Her cold fingers slid along my jaw. "Tell her who is responsible for their deaths." Her hand moved to the back of my neck as she walked behind me. "Tell her whose fault is it that she is here in the first place."

"And who would that be?" I hissed angrily.

"You." She giggled.

"Really?" I forced myself to not focus on Sakura's voice because I could not bear her sobs. It was just too much.

"Of course." The witch answered simply. "You are the one who was too weak to fight me off back there."

I stiffened.

"You're the one who blacked out," she pointed out, "just because you were too weak to withstand the pain of a _couple_ of broken ribs."

"Shut up." I growled.

"Oh my. Did I touch a sore spot?" She mocked as she raked her hand through my hair, pulling harshly against the blood-clotted parts. An involuntary scream escaped my mouth. "Do you want to know how I killed the mage?" I felt something cold and hard slither along my neckline, leaving a fresh wave of searing, hot pain in its place.

"I used your sword to slash his chest open." The tip of the knife's blade moved over my heart. "He was still alive," she chuckled, applying pressure so that the sharp point broke my skin, drawing more blood, "when I cut his heart out. Do you know that the blue in his eyes faded away to leave behind nothing but pure white when he died?" she continued conversationally, digging it deeper.

I gasped, feeling my life source pour out of the wound, trailing down my otherwise cold, numb and frozen body. I vaguely wondered how I was still alive after losing so much blood. I mean, yeah, my magic was the thing that kept me alive but how was I still conscious? I should have been in deep coma or something by now.

"Magic." She whispered in my ear, retracting the blade, as though she had heard what I was thinking.

"I can read your mind boy," she chuckled. "And I'll save you from the unnecessary pain of thinking and answer your question. I used a spell on you that replenishes your blood so you won't die. After all, a dead pet wouldn't be much fun, would it now?"

"Speaking of pets," she added cheerfully, "your girlfriend has such a nice scream, don't you think so?"

"Leave her the hell alone, you bitch!" I snarled, struggling uselessly. I really wanted to land a blow on her sick grinning face. Even after I had gone blind, the vision of her deranged face would not leave me alone.

"Hmm… this won't do boy," she sounded disappointed. "I've told you so many times not to talk to me in that tone and you still haven't learnt. Maybe if I punish your girlfriend, the point might get across."

"No!" I yelled. "No!" Blood was seeping down my arms, but now I knew for sure that no matter how much I bled, I was not about to die. The witch walked away from me, her heels clicking loudly in the room.

I heard something slide open and the familiar hum of static electricity reached my ears.

"NO!!!" Oh God, no please no… Don't let her use it one Sakura… I heard the witch attach one clip to the chain that held my princess. I could almost see the bitch's leering face as she was probably looking in my direction.

Just like when she had electrocuted me, time came to a standstill. There was no sound in the room except for mine and Sakura's pants and the soft buzzing of electricity. Then the witch moved, I heard the second clamp touch the chain and then Sakura screamed…

…And I was screaming along with her… thrashing hysterically against the chains that held me up, wanting them to break somehow. If only they would break, I would be able to help her somehow. I'd be able to do something. Anything…

I felt blood seep down my whole body, pouring out of all the wounds that I had undoubtedly managed to rip open with my manic struggling, but I was past caring about that…

"Let her go!" I screamed, pulling on the metal like a maniac. "Let her f**kin go!!"

…Why were they not breaking? Why? Why couldn't I get free?

She shrieked as electricity rippled through the air.

"No! Let her go!" I cried, flailing against my bonds with all the strength I still possessed, "You wanted _my_ magic. Take it! Just let her go!"

But that witch was enjoying herself too much; she wouldn't stop. She'd take off the clamp every now and then so that I could hear Sakura's pained sobs calling my name and apologizing over and over again for how she had failed to save me; but then the witch would reattach the clamp and Sakura would be crying out in pain once more and I would be shouting and cursing and begging and pleading along with her.

I don't know when my angry cries turned to pleads but my hoarse voice was repeating the same thing again and again, screaming the same words.

"Just let her go… Please, I won't stop you… Torture me if you have to… let her go... don't hurt her…"

The witch stepped closer to me. "You really love her, don't you boy?' she said, running a finger along my cheek. I forced myself not to struggle. She'd hurt Sakura if I did anything to piss her off.

"Please, just let her go…" I croaked, my voice barely above a whisper.

She seemed to consider it for a moment, bringing her face so close to mine that I could feel the warmth of her skin. "No, I don't think I will." She said after a while.

"NO!"

I heard her reattach the clamp and it began all over again. But this time, she did not pull it off. Sakura kept screaming and thrashing but the witch just laughed her sick laugh…

…make it stop … please just stop…. Oh God… Please…. hurt me instead….

Let her go… please…

Why did it have to be her... why not pick me?...

It… it wasn't fair… Kurogane-san was dead… Fai-san was dead… And it was nearly over for me… But Sakura… No, she deserved better than this…

They all deserved better than this.

Why the hell did it have to be this way?

Then Sakura screamed once more and I felt magic saturate the air surrounding her. The same poking and prodding magic that had searched for my core.

…No… Not her…

Not Sakura…

"Please… Don't do this to her…" I was crying. My voice was so hoarse, even _I_ had difficulty hearing it. But…

"Take mine instead…"

That woman's shrieking, homicidal laughter surrounded me… enveloped me… it was all around me… and it was seeping inside me…

Another cry tore through Sakura's throat.

This wasn't happening…

Please, God, just end this…

Sakura's cries died down as the clip came off. I could hear her heavy breathing.

"Syao..Syaoran…" she panted weakly. "I'm… sorry…"

"Everyone you've ever cared for…" the woman whispered in my ear, "is dead."

Sakura screamed. Awfully loud.

"Let her go…" I begged her, as my princess' shrieks grew even more piercing. I could sense the magic ripping her soul apart.

"Please…"

Stop it…

Let her go…

Take me instead… End it…

Another cry…

"You're the reason they all died." She gently, almost lovingly, cupped my cheek in the palm of her hand.

Sakura shrieked in pain once again…

No more… no more….

...please…

I could feel the strength leave my body…

…I was slipping…

…my magic was not enough…

"You are the cause of all of their misery." Her finger ran along my jaw.

…still screaming…

…the smell of her blood filled the air…

I felt my muscles relax helplessly as my life source grew smaller and weaker…

…just like her cries grew weaker…

My head rolled back…

"You caused all their deaths," She breathed softly. "Syaoran."

…Sakura was fading away…

…her magic was completely gone…

"You're the reason _she_ died." Her breath tickled my ear as everything else grew silent around me….

…no ragged breathing…

…no silent sobs…

…nothing…

…not any more.

It was deafening, the crushing reality setting in…

…They were all dead. All of them…

Kurogane-san…

…

Fai-san…

…

…

Sakura…

…

Gone.

Forever…

All my fault…

My fault…

"Do you want me to end it boy?" I felt her hand run along the cut in my chest.

I felt the cool tendrils of her prodding magic penetrate me.

Funny…

I couldn't feel the pain.

I was numb…

My mind was growing blank…

This was it….

The prodding reached its climax.

…I was reaching the end….

…my breaking point…

"Do want to be free of your misery?" she was now fingering the gash on my leg.

Misery…

…Did I deserve to be put out of it?

Her screams still echoed in my mind…

Sobbing… crying… _screaming_ for me to forgive her…

_Syaoran_…

…no more…

_Syaoran_…

…please no more…

_Syaora…n…_

…no…

…please…

…no more….

No more.

I could take no more

I gave one final scream of anguish as my world shattered…

…completely…

…splintering into nothingness…

…

…Sweet, blissful nothingness…

_**A/N: I'm pretty sure everyone hates Akira by now. Um... or maybe you guys started hating her ages ago. Anyhow, how was this chapter? I really hope you guys liked it. Review and let me know that, k?**_

_**Oh and please, don't send an angry mob after me. You're the ones who sealed Syaoran's fate with your reviewing and the voting and all. ;) **_

_**So till next time.**_

_**Adious amigos.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: Wow. I never thought people would actually like Akira but then again, you guys can be unpredictable.**_

_**For my anonymous reviewer, I would like to say your wish was fulfilled. Here's is a chapter in Kuro's POV. Enjoy.**_

_**And like always, don't forget to review.**_

After a longtime, the kid forced his clouded-eyes to look back in the corner of the room I wondered if he could see his hallucination.

"Don't be Sakura." He whispered.

God! It killed me so much. The tenderness, the love, the warmth that was pouring out of his barely audible voice was all directed at nothing but a figment of his imagination. I really wanted to break him out of whatever spell he was under. "Saku-ra… Please don't cry." His voice grew a bit louder. "Sa-ku-ra…" he kept trying to speak after that but I think his throat decided to give the kid a break. He was staring longingly in the direction of the empty corner, but I could see his eyes droop. Finally he just sort of slumped and I knew the kid had passed out.

"Sleep kid. You'll need the rest." I mumbled with a sad sigh, trying in vain to ruffle his hair one last time.

After about half an hour when the kid jolted awake, only one word escaped his cracked lips. "Sakura…" He started struggling, his movements growing stronger with each pull. "Stay away from her!"

"Kid, she's not here." I tried once again. Who knows, maybe one of these times, he might actually hear me again.

"Leave her alone!"

No.

No such luck so far.

"Syaoran, you're hallucinating." I tried wording it a bit differently.

"NO!" he yelled, his thrashing growing more violent. I saw the cuts on his wrist reopen, trickling crimson liquid down his bare arms. "Leave her alone you f**king bitch! Leave her alone!"

"Stop it before you hurt yourself more." I growled, bringing my face right next to his ear in hopes of making myself heard.

My only answer, however, was "Let her go!"

"Kid! It's not f**king real!" I roared angrily, the desperation of making my voice heard by him more than clear.

Obviously, the kid did not hear me, since he kept struggling until he passed out from exhaustion.

I slumped against the wall, a sigh of resignation escaping my lips. The sound of Syaoran's ragged breaths was the only thing I could hear in this place. Blood was still seeping from his wounds and I was worried that more than anything else he would die from blood loss.

It was kind of surprising he was still alive even now. Maybe it was due to his magic sustaining his body that was the reason he was still drawing breaths.

It was almost six hours later that Syaoran woke up again. There wasn't any proper way to keep track of time in this place but something inside me told me it was that long at the very least. It could have been longer.

The door slid open and the witch walked back inside.

"So, let's see what you've heard so far boy." She giggled insanely as she took his face in her hands. Syaoran groaned weakly as a black glow enveloped Akira's hands and stretched outwards to cover his eyes and ears.

A smile lit up her face as her eyes grew distant. She moved her head closer to his ear. "Awww… isn't that cute." She breathed but I could hear her voice loud and clear.

"Your girlfriend thinks it's her fault the mage died. Why don't you tell her whose fault it truly is?" I saw one of her hands sneak to his jaw, running a pale finger along his bone.

"The mage is still alive you bitch." I had felt his magic in the air for a split second just before the kid had passed out.

But a lot of time had passed between then and now. Maybe…

No!

He was still alive. He was still alive.

The witch was just playing with Syaoran's head. Just like she was making him think that Sakura was there.

Yeah. That's right. The idiot was still alive. He couldn't be dead. He _had_ to be alive damn it! Who was going to look after those two if he went and got himself killed?

"Tell her who is responsible for their deaths." Her hand snaked along his neck to the very back as the kid's body stiffened. "Tell her whose fault it is that she is here in the first place."

"She is not here!" I yelled, feeling a wide range of emotions roll over me in waves. There was worry, anger, frustration, hatred, pity, but most of all there was dread. What if… What if what the witch was saying now was true? What if she really _had_ killed Fai?

"And who would that be?" Syaoran hissed as he narrowed his grey-coated eyes.

"You." The witch chuckled softly.

"Really?" Syaoran said after he had gulped with quite a lot of effort. It seemed as though he was forcing himself to ignore something by engaging in a conversation with his deranged captor.

"Of course." Akira nodded. "You are the one who was too weak to fight me off back there."

"He was not weak you bitch!" I roared. "You f**kin broke his ribs!"

"You're the one who blacked out," she pointed out, as though she had just heard me, "just because you were too weak to withstand the pain of a _couple_ of broken ribs."

"Shut up," the kid growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh my," she said with mock innocence as her fingers ran through his hair, tugging mercilessly at the tangled mop. "Did I touch a sore spot?" I saw her pull out a small knife with a wooden hilt. The one she had already used on the kid. She slid its sharp edge on his flesh, leaving a streak of crimson in its wake. "Do you want to know how I killed the mage?"

My heart clenched. Part of me still believed that he was alive but a part of me was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, the witch was telling the truth. She _had _killed me after all.

"I used your sword to slash his chest open." Her own knife moved over Syaoran's heart as she reoriented it so that the tip was pointing towards him. "He was still alive," she giggled as she dug it in, "when I cut his heart out."

I could see his blood begin to seep out, staining his already dirty, torn shirt which had initially been a pale green but now was almost completely maroonish brown.

Her words rang in my ears.

Cut his heart out…

No…

But how could she have overcome him? He was strong. And he had my skill along with his own magic. Then how…?

"Do you know that the blue in his eyes faded away to leave behind nothing but pure white when he died?" She said conversationally as the knife buried deeper.

The look on Syaoran's face grew pensive. He grimaced when the witch twisted the blade, her smile widening at his reaction.

"Magic." She whispered as she withdrew the knife. "I can read your mind boy." An amused chuckle. "And I'll save you from the unnecessary pain of thinking and answer your question. I used a spell on you that replenishes your blood so you won't die. After all, a dead pet wouldn't be much fun, would it now?"

So it was magic after all. But not his own magic. The witch was prolonging his agony on purpose.

"Speaking of pets," she said cheerfully, "your girlfriend has such a nice scream, don't you think so?"

Her words rekindled the fire burning in Syaoran's unseeing eyes as he began struggling anew. "Leave her the hell alone, you bitch!"

She hummed thoughtfully before speaking. "This won't do boy. I've told you so many times not to talk to me in that tone and you still haven't learnt. Maybe if I punish your girlfriend, the point might get across."

"No!" Syaoran yelled, a look of horror on his pale face, sunken eyes wide with fear. "No!" He thrashed as blood kept flowing down his body. The witch turned her back to him, walking towards one of the walls where the light from the dying bulb was not enough to penetrate the darkness. I heard her slide a panel open and then something metallic glinted slightly in her hands when she was back in the light. A low buzzing sound came from the familiar looking clamps.

"What the f**k are you doing you bitch?!" I snarled as the kid screamed. "NO!!!"

He was shaking his head, his mouth hanging open as a myriad of emotions played in his dull amber eyes.

The witch, however, did not move towards him like I had expected her to. Instead, she just stood there, making a motion of clipping one of the clamps to thin air before grinning back in the kid's direction. The kid held his breath, mouthing 'no' again and again. Then she clipped the second clamp to nothing at all.

"NO!!" Syaoran yelled.

Suddenly I felt a familiar tug pulling on my entire being. But this time the tugging sensation was laced with Fai's magic. I felt strange tingles crawl up my skin, spreading through my whole body. My vision began to double.

"Let her go!" I heard Syaoran scream but at the same time I could see the living room of the apartment the mage and the princess were staying at.

"Let her f**kin go!!" I could still hear the kid shouting but the room holding him faded away while Fai and Sakura came into focus. Both of them were seated on the sofa, the princess staring at the spot I was appearing in with wide hopeful eyes while the mage had a sad smile on his face.

"You're both alive." I let out a sigh of relief as I looked at the two, whereas at the same moment Sakura's hands flew to her mouth, tears welled up in her eyes. "K-Kurogane-san?" She whispered, her voice trembling with disbelief.

I blinked a couple of times before gaping at the girl, who now had twin streaks of salt water trailing down her face.

"Of course we're alive, Kuro-tan." The idiot said cheerfully as he waved his hand in a happy greeting.

"The hell?" This was the best response that I could come up with.

"Articulate as always I see." He grinned widely.

My mind reeled. What the hell was going on? For six months no one could sense me and now all of a sudden those two were talking to me like I had never been invisible?

"You seem confused." The mage cocked his head to one side as he observed me through smiling eyes, but I could see the sorrow lurking in their depths.

"Damn right, I'm confused," I grunted as I crossed my arms across my chest. "What the hell did you do mage?"

"Hmm… What makes you think I did something?" He smiled innocently.

"Stop it you idiot." I growled in irritation. Damn, I had completely forgotten how annoying he could be when he wanted. "We don't have time for this."

"You're right Kuro-tan," he nodded, his expression immediately becoming serious. "We won't be able to converse for very long."

"What do you mean?"

"When Akira killed you, she not only drained your physical magic," he explained somberly, "but you spiritual magic as well."

"Huh?"

"Spiritual magic or spiritual energy is the thing that allows spirits to communicate with the living." Sakura answered with a small sniffle as she wiped her eyes. "It is also the thing that allows them to move on."

"So you mean to say, the reason why I am stuck like this is because of that bitch?!"

"I am afraid so." Fai nodded. "I lent you some of my own magic and energy so that we could talk but it's not going to last forever."

"You pulled me here?" I asked quietly.

"Yes." He answered.

"…"

"Kurogane," he began hesitantly, looking at me with guilty eyes. "I'm really sorry." He lowered his head to hide his face behind a curtain of blond hair.

I understood what he was apologizing for. I knew he did not pity me, since he knew I would kill him if he did that. No. He was apologizing because he felt like it was his fault the kid was taken by the witch.

"It's not your fault," I grunted as I walked over to him and sat down. I knew I should have said more since my words didn't do much to change his mind. I had spent more than enough time with all three of them to know what each of them was thinking. And my understanding of them had only grown after I had died. That was ironic, but true.

"…" He remained silent. I would have hit him but I wasn't sure if I was solid enough to do so. It wasn't until much later that the thought occurred to me that I had been able to sit on the sofa next to him so obviously I could have, but by the time this thought had crossed my mind, my chance was gone.

"Kurogane-san," the princess started hesitantly, looking at me with hopeful jade eyes. "Fai-san said you were with Syaoran… How… How is he? Is he… okay?" she asked fearfully and for the first time in ages, I caught a glimpse of the girl I had traveled with.

"You have to get to him fast," I addressed the mage, looking away from her. "The witch is using some sort drugs to mess with his mind. He thinks you're dead and the princess is there with Akira."

"Kurogane-san, how bad is his condition?" Sakura repeated her question, forcing me to meet her gaze once more.

"You can't waste any more time" was all I said in reply as the tingling sensation of the mage's magic in my body began to fade.

"You might be stuck with us for a while longer Kuro-tan," the idiot told me in a soft voice, his cerulean eyes staring at me with nothing but sadness lurking in them. "Lending my energy to you is quite tiring and I think I might have to wait until we have Syaoran back with us before I do it again."

"Why?" I asked in perplexion.

"You'll have to move on, sooner or later," he answered as the magic faded away from my body completely.

"I think I'll settle for later." I nodded my head but I don't think he heard or saw me. I sighed. I was back to being invisible.

"Sakura, I think it's time for us to go," he said, climbing to his feet. The princess followed his example.

"Summon your sword. I can't transport us directly into Syaoran's holding cell since Akira has wards around it and breaking through requires more energy than I have to spare at the moment." He said the last part with a guilty look in his blue orbs. "We'll have to fight our way in."

"Hai." The jade-eyed girl brought her hands together and I watched in quiet amazement as the hilt of a sword began materializing out of her palms in a bright blue light at the same time as Fai's transportation spell swirled around us in tight circles. I looked towards the idiot and saw that he, too, was holding my sword in his hands by now. Sakura had a look of fierce determination on her face.

"We're coming Syaoran."

-0-

_**A/N: How was it? Good or Bad? Don't hesitate to let me know.**_

_**The next update might take a while since something called real life is finally catching up... But not to worry, a few surprises await you. ;)**_

_**Till then. Ciao!**_

_**~Nims.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: Hey everyone. How's it goin? I'm back with yet another chapter, hopefully you'll find it a good read.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

"Kurogane!" I gasped as I shot into a sitting position only to tumble and fall down. A little dazed and confused, I raised myself using my arms; however, my injury had escaped my mind. With a startled cry of pain, I fell on my face and had the wonderful experience of sharing a kiss with the shaggy carpet.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I supported myself into a sitting position, this time though I was mindful of my throbbing arm. Guess the potion wore off. From the golden light pouring in through the parted curtains, I judged the time to be somewhere after noon, probably closer to evening.

I pushed my dreams out of my mind, knowing that they were all things of the past. Much more pressing matters required my attention here in the present. I tried to remember what I had seen before I had passed out on the couch.

Syaoran's thrashing form hanging from the roof, screaming at nothing but emptiness.

But there had been someone else there. Someone I couldn't see but my mind had subconsciously assigned a name to. "Kurogane…"

I had heard him yelling at Syaoran, as though he had been trying to tell him something. I thought back to the other times when I had thought I had heard his voice but had dismissed it as a figment of my imagination. In the bedroom. During my fight with the apprentice. Then there had been those small snatches of comments that I had heard during the past six months.

His spirit was still here. He was still around us.

But how?

And more importantly, why?

Why was he still here? And why had Sakura been unable to see him, she could communicate with spirits of the dead after all. And why had I not been able to sense him? It was true that I lacked the ability to talk to those who had passed away, but my magic could always pick up on their presence. So, why was Kurogane's cloaked?

Ghosts didn't have spiritual invisibility cloaks to stay undetected. Besides, why would he even want to stay hidden?

Unless…

"Sakura." I called, jumping to my feet. "Sakura, wake up." I twisted the knob to her room and entered, walking over to her curled up form on the bed. "Sakura, get up." I shook her shoulder gently.

Sleep-glazed jade eyes opened to fix me with a confused stare.

"I found Syaoran." I announced quietly.

"Where?" All traces of slumber left her instantaneously as she bolted upright into a sitting position.

"Downtown, near the western edge." I answered.

"How did you-"

"I used my magic to track down his signal," I cut her in, since I already knew what she was going to ask about. "It requires a lot of energy, but I've found him."

"Did you... did you see him?" she asked hopefully.

"It was too dark to see much." I lied at the last moment. I just couldn't bring myself to crush her small ray of hope that maybe, just maybe, he was still unharmed. That much was visible in her green orbs as they stared at me.

"Oh." She looked away, trying to hide the disappointment on her face.

"But I found something else as well." I continued after a while.

"What?" she coaxed, looking hopeful once again.

"Kurogane has not passed on."

"Not passed on?" she repeated in confusion.

"Yes," I nodded, "and he's been around for a while."

"Around us?" hesitation was evident on her face.

"Yes, it seems that way," I replied.

"The why can't I see him? or hear him?" she cocked her head to one side.

"Right now because he's with Syaoran. As for before now, I have a couple of theories."

"Like?"

"You do know that a human soul also posses energy." She nodded. "Well, Akira normally drains just the physical body of victims, but every once in a while, she drains their essence too. Without their essence, a spirit is not able to communicate, nor can it move on to the next world."

"You mean she drained Kurogane-san's essence?" she said in a mortified tone, "but, how were you able to sense him now?"

"I was tracking Syaoran using a very powerful spell and since he was nearby, it picked up on his signal as well."

"No one can ever completely drain a spirit of its essence, so he still had some spiritual energy left." I explained, seeing the perplexed expression on her face. "It's not enough to allow him to communicate with us but it's adequate enough for him to keep existing."

-0-

"Fai, what are we going to do now?" I asked quietly. My heart was racing but I managed to push all of my feelings in the back.

I was still shaken from the fact that I had killed a man. Apart from that, I was scared as hell for Syaoran. Although I no longer heard the sound of metal slicing flesh and bone alike or the sound of my own insane laughter from my dream, I knew it would take a lot of time for me to finally come to terms with what I had done. Whatever potion Fai had brewed, it helped me suppress those emotions so that I could think rationally and not look like a total wreck.

When Fai woke me up and told me about Syaoran, my heart gave a cry of joy and the guilt was pushed even deeper down. It was only a matter of time, now that we knew Syaoran's location. We were going to rescue him from the witch and everything would be okay. Syaoran would be okay in just a few hours.

Then, Fai told me about Kurogane and horror, anger and sadness were the emotions that welled up inside me. All this time, he had been stuck here, in isolation from everyone. Even if he could see us and hear us, we couldn't do the same. _I_ couldn't do the same. We had never done anything to that witch, then why was she doing this to us?

My silent contemplations were brought to an end when Fai spoke again.

"I'm going to bring him here."

I met his blue-eyed gaze as he gave me a small smile which did nothing to hide his sadness from me. A blue glow enveloped his body as he wrote out a spell in the air. The glowing runes shot towards the centre of the living room, spiraling in a tight-knit circle. I could feel Fai's magic saturate the air.

And somewhere in the centre of all that swirling magic, a familiar aura began to make its presence known. At first it was just a faint outline but then it grew clearer and clearer.

Even though Fai had told me not a very long time ago that Kurogane-san was stuck here, I still couldn't believe my eyes when his spirit finally materialized before us.

"K-Kurogane-san?" I questioned softly, noting the way my voice shook.

"You're both alive." He said at the same time. He met my teary-eyed stare with a shocked one, his mouth almost hanging open.

"Of course we're alive, Kuro-tan." Fai gave a cheery response, complete with an enthusiastic wave.

"The hell?" he quickly shut his mouth.

"Articulate as always I see." Fai teased him like the past six months had never even happened.

Kurogane-san was baffled and Fai knew it. "You seem confused."

"Damn right, I'm confused," he frowned in response, crossing his arms. "What the hell did you do mage?"

"Hmm…" Fai was giving him an innocent smile, fully intent on making this feel like old times. "What makes you think I did something?"

"Stop it you idiot." Kurogane-san's scowl deepened; he was still easily irritated by Fai's antics. "We don't have time for this."

"You're right Kuro-tan," he immediately sobered. "We won't be able to converse for very long."

"What do you mean?"

"When Akira killed you, she not only drained your physical magic," he explained quietly, "but your spiritual magic as well."

"Huh?"

"Spiritual magic or spiritual energy is the thing that allows spirits to communicate with the living." I decided to elaborate a bit, wiping my eyes in the process. I had to get my act together, right now was not the time or the place for me to be so torn apart. Besides, we were going rescue Syaoran very soon. "It is also the thing that allows them to move on."

"So you mean to say, the reason why I am stuck like this is because of that bitch?!"

"I am afraid so." Fai nodded. "I lent you some of my own magic and energy so that we could talk but it's not going to last forever."

"You pulled me here?" Kurogane-san's voice was quiet.

"Yes." He answered with a single nod.

"…" wordlessly Kurogane-san looked away, I noticed his fists clenching but he probably didn't realize doing that himself.

"Kurogane," Fai spoke uncertainly, staring at the ninja's spirit with a guilty look on his face. "I'm really sorry." I tried searching his face for clues as to why he was apologizing but found no answer. Was it because he felt sorry that that witch had killed Kurogane-san? Or was it something else.

Fai lowered his head and blond hair cascaded down to hide his face from view.

"It's not your fault," Kurogane-san spoke quietly as he walked over and sat down next to us. Fai kept staring at his hands, not really believing what he was being told. From his expression I knew that Kurogane-san would really have liked to hit Fai on the head like he usually did when he wanted to make a point of some sort but there was an uncertainty there as well.

I observed him out of the corner of my eye before turning around to face him completely. "Kurogane-san, Fai said you were with Syaoran…" I paused, unsure of what exactly I wanted to ask him. If I really want to know what I was about to ask him? What if his answer was something I didn't like? "How… How is he? Is he… okay?"

"You have to get to him fast," He answered in a gruff tone, looking at Fai instead of me. "The witch is using some sort drugs to mess with his mind. He thinks you're dead and the princess is there with Akira."

If he was avoiding telling me about it, I knew it was nothing good, but something inside me needed to know, forcing me to ask him once again. "Kurogane-san, how bad is his condition?"

"You can't waste any more time," he replied, the presence of his spirit beginning to fade.

"You might be stuck with us for a while longer Kuro-tan," Fai informed him sadly. "Lending my energy to you is quite tiring and I think I might have to wait until we have Syaoran back with us before I do it again."

"Why?"

"You'll have to move on, sooner or later," he replied just as Kurogane-san vanished completely, but I knew he was still there.

"Sakura," Fai looked at me with a serious expression, reminding me of the gravity of the situation. "I think it's time for us to go." I stood up at the same time as he rose to his own feet. "Summon your sword. I can't transport us directly into Syaoran's holding cell since Akira has wards around it and breaking through requires more energy than I have to spare at the moment." He said apologetically, "We'll have to fight our way in."

I wanted to assure him that it wasn't his fault but for some reason the words never escaped my mouth.

"Hai." I nodded before clapping the palms of my hands together, feeling the sensation of magic gathering there before pouring out of my hands in the form of an intense electric blue light, materializing into the silver blade of Syaoran's sword.

Fai summoned his own sword and allowed the strings of blue runes to emerge from his outstretched fingers in the form of a transportation spell.

"We're coming Syaoran." I whispered the words, mentally preparing myself for the fight ahead, shoving all of my other feelings back, focusing only on one thing.

Rescue Syaoran.

Everything else would just have to wait…

-0-

Unlike when we used to travel between different worlds, back when we had been searching for the other Sakura's feathers, my spell was completely undetectable. Although space and reality both were bent due to the magic, there were no visible signs to indicate the arrival of a magician who used the spell that I was using.

Just like everything else in life, there are several ways to go about when performing transportation magic. Every way has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Advanced spells were less noisy but required more magic whereas the simpler versions were more suitable for people who liked to make flashy appearances. My current choice in the matter was quite obvious.

We arrived outside a building which was nothing out of the ordinary but I knew we were at the right place. The second my magic dissipated into the air, I was overwhelmed by the amount of tainted aura saturating the atmosphere around us. Sakura drew in a sharp breath next to me as she too registered the intensity of it.

My heart clenched as the grim realization hit me.

Akira had grown stronger…

But then again, so had I.

And I was quite confident that I could take her.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan," I whispered, scanning our surroundings before locking my gaze with hers. "We'll find him."

She gave me a nod, her jaw set in determination as she tightened her grip on the hilt of the sword in her hand.

"Let me take care of the guards, alright?" I gave her a reassuring smile before stepping around the corner of the building, swiftly moving towards the lone guard standing outside. Before the man could yell to raise an alarm, I had him pinned to the wall with my hand clamping over his mouth. He flailed his arm, I felt sparks of magic gather at the tips of his finger but before even the first specks of energy could materialize, Ginryuu had cleanly slit his throat.

I dropped the gurgling man as he choked on his own blood, not really wanting to see the light fade from his eyes. I felt a small twinge of guilt and regret, but I quickly locked those emotions away. It wasn't so hard since I had seen my share of battles back in Celes and trust me when I say this, after a while of taking lives of living beings, you learn to suppress that feeling.

Without making a sound I took hold of the now dead man's arm and pulled him out of sight, dragging his lifeless body to a dark alleyway. There was no need for Sakura to see him.

Cautiously, I moved further towards the entrance, easily doing away with any guards I came across in a manner similar to the first one. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I went back to get Sakura.

The door slid open noiselessly and we stepped inside the long corridor which was completely shrouded in darkness.

I led the way through the twisting and turning corridors, not even pausing to consider their odd layout inside the building. They seemed to stretch on and on forever, never really ending, only cutting sharply to the left and then to the right, dipping down abruptly before climbing up steeply.

Akira had used her magic to warp everything, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. I could have countered the spell but since the twisted paths weren't messing with my senses, I was easily able to navigate our way through them, leading us closer to Syaoran's location.

It was true that ever since we had entered this building, Syaoran's magical signature had dulled to almost nothingness but even though it was faint, it was still there. Which meant that I didn't have any time to waste.

After a while, the darkness in the corridors began to lessen, giving way to the weak light pouring down from the old tube lights hanging from the roof at equal intervals. We reached a fork in the tunnels; I could sense around five guards in the left tunnel while the right one was completely empty. Both tunnels led to Syaoran's location but the right one was the shorter whereas the left was longer but didn't have many guards.

"Sakura, go in the right tunnel and wait, okay?" without waiting for her reply, I sprinted down the left corridor, swiftly slashing through my first opponent before he even had the chance to raise his hand. The next one went down just as quickly. The third managed to dodge my first attack but he couldn't get away fast enough when I swung the blade around, hearing the sickening sound of flesh being cut through by metal. The fourth man let out an anguished scream as the sword made short work of him.

The fifth one managed to last a couple of seconds but he was no match for Kuro-tan's skills as I ended his life by thrusting my blade in his chest. It was almost too easy since I had managed to take them all in less than half a minute and I had not gotten hit even once.

"Let's go," I told Sakura once I went back to the fork in the tunnels.

"Fai, your eyes are gold," she whispered to me once we had crossed the felled bodies of Akira's underlings.

Gold? Well that would explain why I was able to get rid of those guards so quickly. I had subconsciously tapped into my vampire side.

"No worries Sakura," I answered, "Vampires have heightened senses."

She gave me a nod in return, telling me she understood what I had tried to convey to her. We both focused our attention on the long corridor. We had several more encounters but each time, I had taken care of the men before they or Sakura had a chance to react.

-0-

_**A/N: So what do you think? Will they make it on time? Or is it already too late?**_

_**Will Syaoran be saved? Will he get to meet Sakura and Fai or will Akira do something really evil before then?**_

_**Don't forget to lemme know of what you think might happen via review. **_

_**Till next time. **_

_**Ja!**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N: Yo! Atlast, I reveal Syaoran's fate (even though some of you out there already know what it is) but for those who don't, you shall wait no more.**_

_**Enjoy. (And don't forget to review)**_

Fai's sword sliced through yet another man, felling him to the ground. There was no hesitation in his now gold-slitted, cold eyes and I wondered briefly if he had ever killed people before. The speed with which he moved left no room for retaliation on his opponents' part, but it was still unnerving to see him zip around with nothing more than flashes of pale gold appearing in front of the men before they spurted blood from gashes that appeared seemingly out of thin air.

We had several more encounters but it wasn't until we reached the end of the tunnel and took a sharp turn around a corner that we were presented with a challenge. A bright white light assaulted our eyes and I flinched in discomfort as my eyes automatically squinted to avoid looking at such a dazzling illumination. Or maybe it felt that way to me since we had just emerged from a comparatively darker place. Once I was able to see again, my gaze landed on a group of twelve men including Akira's bald apprentice.

A long streak of some dirty brown liquid, almost completely dried by now, ran along the entire length of the corridor vanishing underneath a black metal door situated at the right side of the hallway.

"Did you come for the boy, High Mage?" the apprentice drawled lazily, drawing his sword in a careless manner.

"Aww… Were we that obvious?" A feral grin appeared on Fai's lips.

"Sakura, cover my back while I deal with the guards," he added to me in a barely audible whisper. "Syaoran is just beyond that black door, once I clear a path for you, get him out of here. The apprentice is my problem." He said, his eyes not once leaving those cold black ones of the man in question.

"Don't tell me you actually believe that little girl can stand against these men?" he scoffed, drawing his sword.

"This little girl is more than capable of taking care of herself." Fai answered in the same cheerful manner, though his eyes were nothing but two frozen pits of gold. "And she's not facing them alone."

We attacked at the same time, however even with Fai's vampire speed and my help, this time it took a lot longer to reduce the men to even half of their initial number. I had to admit, these guys were far more skilled than all the previous ones we had been encountering so far put together.

I did not kill any of the men I fought, merely injuring them enough so that they were rendered unable to get back up to fight again. At one point, one of the guys I was combating managed to knock me into the thick stone wall but thankfully the blow didn't do much damage.

Fai had killed that man before I even hit the ground and immediately moved back to firing various spells and physical attacks at the minions that he was fighting. In the end after around half an hour or so, the only ones left were me, Fai and the witch's apprentice, who had been merely observing us fight and had not moved from his spot near the wall.

"Now I remember who else fought like that." He grinned at us as he walked to the middle of the hallway, blocking our path as a black barrier shimmered into existence behind him. "You stole the ninja's techniques and gave the boy's style to her."

Fai stiffened.

"He did put up a good fight you know," he said conversationally. "But in the end, he was no match for Akira-sama."

"I'll kill you," Fai growled as his nails lengthened slightly. In a flash, he was next to the apprentice, his sword at the man's throat.

"I don't think so," a blast of dark magic threw knocked Fai into the back wall.

"Fai!" I cried in alarm as his body slid down to the floor. But Fai seemed to have planned for this to happen, seeing as he grinned up at the man before raising his arm. Streams of glowing blue Celesian runes emerging from the tips of his fingers shot towards the black metal door, tearing through the shimmering shield like it was nothing at all. As soon as they made contact with its surface, the door scrunched up as though a giant hand had just crumpled a piece of paper.

His golden cat-slitted eyes flashed in my direction once. "Go!" he ordered urgently, turning his attention back to the slightly peeved magician before him.

"You're already too late High Mage." I heard a woman's chilling voice echo off the walls all around me as I rushed inside the dark room. I stumbled once, my hands quickly reaching out for something to help me steady myself.

I felt blindly along the cold walls in hopes of finding a light switch but there was no need to do so. "It's too dark in here." I mumbled. No sooner had I said that that a steady stream of blue runes zipped inside the room from the corridor outside, swirling in front of me in a tight-knit circle before shooting upwards towards the roof. They glowed and vanished leaving behind an ornate gold chandelier in their place. Numerous orbs of floating fires acted as the source as the room was suddenly enveloped in a soft luminance which then brightened to show that I was facing a wall with dark metal panels built into it.

A faint wheezing sound reached my ears, causing me to whip around as I tried to locate its source. A person was hanging from a pair of bloodied shackles in the middle of the room, blood pooling about his feet on the dirty floor. His head hung low on his chest and he was taking in quite labored gasps.

In a trance like state I stepped closer to him, stopping only a foot away from him, staring at the product of the witch's horrible torture with a mortified look on my face. Every visible inch of skin on his arms and the rest of his body was covered in bruises and black burns. His clothes were torn and bloodstained. In fact the amount of blood had turned his faded blue jeans and pale green shirt a deep maroonish brown.

"S-Syaoran?" I asked hesitantly. He did not even stir, but I waited, foolishly hoping to get a response of some sort. My vision blurred after almost a minute had passed and I still hadn't gotten a reply. The moisture in my eyes cleared the instant I blinked. A feeling of cold dread clenched its icy claws around me as I stepped closer to him. I reached out with my hand, softly brushing my fingers against his cheek.

God! He felt so cold.

"Syaoran, it's me, Sakura." I whispered, feeling something warm and wet trail down my cheek, "Wake up."

He still did not move. I lowered my hand, placing my palm beneath his chin as I raised it gently, supporting his head with my curled fingers. My breath was caught in my throat as my heart pounded wildly against my ribcage, my insides twisted and knotted themselves painfully as I took in his face; his once boyish and attractive face now nothing short of ghostly pale and gaunt, his lips dry and cracked- painted brown with dried blood, his cheeks sunken in with burns and cuts marring a bruised, papery skin stretched taut over his high cheekbones, bluish black veins visible through the almost translucent muscle.

His eyes…

His eyes were glazed over- the amber in them was clouded over by a chalky-grey color- as he stared at me unseeingly.

He'd gone blind.

Sorrow gripped my heart while rage reared its ugly head within me. What had that witch done to him?!

"Syaoran, it's me," I whispered, searching his face for signs of recognition.

Even if he couldn't see me, he should have been able to hear my voice, or feel my touch.

So why was he not responding?

Why was he so unmoving, unresponsive?

A thick trickle of crimson liquid flowed down his right arm, seeping into his already maroon shirt. My eyes retraced its path to his bleeding wrists where I saw the injured flesh and scraped skin. A sob emitted from my throat before I was even aware of it. I spied another bleeding cut in his abdomen, while two deep gashes contributed to the steadily growing pool of blood beneath his feet. I could see a third one in his upper thigh where the cloth of his jeans had been ripped to expose the flesh below.

I was distantly aware of the clashing swords right outside this cold freezing cell. Fai was still locked in a deadly battle with the bald apprentice but for me, the sound of metal clanging against metal was nothing but background noise. For now, the only sounds that I could hear were Syaoran's shallow breaths and my own quiet sobs reverberating off the walls of this room.

"Syaoran, please…" My voice cracked as I spoke. "Wake up."

Nothing…

Tearing my eyes away from his face, I looked around, searching for some means to get him down. Finally I spotted a lever in the wall on the further end of the room. With a low whirring of gears, the chain clanked as it began to move downwards, lowering Syaoran in the process when I pulled on the lever.

Once he was lowered to his knees, I let go, hurrying back to his side. I fumbled with the shackles, unlocking them by pulling a metallic pin stuck in them. Once the braces clicked open, Syaoran dropped like a stone, but I managed to catch him before his head hit the cold floor.

I gently laid him down so that his head rested on my lap as I once again let my eyes roam over his injured body. The cuts and the burns, the bruised and broken skin…

Oh God!

I tried to remember what Yukito-san had taught me about healing magic back when I was in Clow. I was supposed to take over as the High Priestess so obviously it was essential for me to have such knowledge.

Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind of all thoughts, expanding the boundaries just enough so that I could sense Syaoran's magic. But something felt completely wrong. I knew he was in my arms yet there was nothing but emptiness and a strange void-like feeling when I tried to look at him with my mental eye.

Still, pushing the uneasiness and anxiety away, I focused solely on letting my own magic flood into his body. But just before it touched his skin, I met with a dark impenetrable wall of black magic which enveloped his entire body. No matter how hard I pushed or struggled against it, it never gave in.

It was only when I myself felt like I would faint if I kept at it that I decided to stop. It was no use. His unseeing eyes were staring blankly at me as he took in shallow gasps.

"You promised me you'd be fine…" I choked on a sob as I gathered him in my arms, his muscles slack in my hold. The scent of his blood, which was everywhere in this room, assaulted my nose more forcefully yet I managed to ignore it. I closed my eyes once more, feeling for some weakness in the darkness that had enshrouded him.

My mind was racing, wrought with terror and fear. I had just found him. I could not lose him again! Not like this. I pulled him even closer, supporting his lolling head against my shoulder.

_Please make him be okay._ My heart prayed silently. _Please, let him live._

His rasping breathing seemed unbearably loud in my ear, _please, don't let him die._ I squeezed my eyes shut as more tears threatened to fall. My head still hurt from where I had hit the wall and my heart pounded wildly against my chest, clenching and constricting painfully.

But I pushed myself beyond my limits. I _had_ to make it work. I _had_ to save him.

After a lot more mental head butting against the wall of darkness, I discovered that if I focused hard enough, I could force it to move apart, like drawn curtains. I slowly but steadily poured some of my magic into his body, my heart tightening in fear when I noticed how there wasn't any of his own left in him. I knew I couldn't give him too much of mine since magical essences were different for everyone. One essence could never really replace the other.

After a couple of minutes, I let the curtains fall back, effectively cutting my connection from him. I hated doing it but the healer in me told me that this was the maximum that I could do at the moment. I watched his face expectantly, hoping that maybe now he would regain some semblance.

But he did not stir… Didn't even so much as twitch a muscle.

I pulled his body close to mine, tightening my hold on him. "You promised me… you'd be okay..." My tears were choking me, pouring down like rain, landing on his face where they mingled with his blood, trailing down the sides of his pale cheeks. "You promised me…" I repeated, burying my face his hair.

"Syaoran…" I searched for his hand, lacing my fingers with his, once I had found it. "Syaoran…" I repeated, again and again, unaware of the fact that my body was rocking back and forth as I held him to me. My tears kept falling, dropping onto his whitish skin, sliding off the sides of his cheeks, leaving trails of cleaner but burnt and bruised skin.

My eyes snapped open when I heard a weak, barely audible moan escape from Syaoran's lips.

"S-Syaoran?" I whispered hesitantly.

"She's… gone…" he whimpered weakly in reply.

I gently laid his head in my lap, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, trying to lock my gaze with his but his half-lidded sightless eyes were filled with nothing but a haze of sorrow and delirium. My heart sank at the sight of those once passionate orbs now nothing short of dead and empty, despair evident on his crunched up face.

"Syaoran," I murmured, bringing my face closer to his, fighting back my tears.

"All… my… f-ault…" he rasped in nothing more than a whisper. "Sa-ku-ra…"

My heart skipped a beat. Did he just…?

"She… die-d…"

"No!" I cried desperately. "I'm right here…. Please…" I begged, hoping that maybe my voice might make him realize the truth.

His body shivered in my arms as his eyes drifted close. I could feel him slipping away.

"Syaoran, it wasn't real! I'm still alive!"

"So-r-ry…" he breathed softly.

"No! Syaoran…" I pleaded, my hand tightening its grip around his fingers.

In an act of desperation, to make him believe, I pressed my lips against his cold, chapped ones. Tears were still trailing down my cheeks as I kissed him, the tang of blood dominating his otherwise sweet taste. I pulled back to look at him but there were still no signs of recognition on his face. Stifling a sob, I brushed my lips against his temple in a soft feathered kiss before moving back to his mouth. "It's me." I whispered hopefully when I was less than a centimeter away from his face, only to have my heart break when I got no reaction.

"Syaoran please…" I mumbled weakly, burying my face in his hair. "Can't you tell? I'm still here…"

"Sa-ku-ra…" he gave a shuddering gasp as I felt his pulse flicker beneath my touch. His body tensed up. "So… c-old…" Something was wrong. I looked at him once again and saw how his breaths were getting even more unsteady than they already were. In my mind's eye, I saw my own lent magic beginning to fade. It was like something was leeching it out of him.

"Syaoran?" I squeezed his hand, the dread intensifying in my heart. I couldn't give him anymore, that would just worsen his condition, but even now… "Hold on. Fai is just around the corner, we'll get you out of here, just hang on."

I was so scared. More than I ever had been in my entire life. Never before had I seen Syaoran in a condition like this. So broken and lifeless. The feeling of his cold failing body in my arms terrified me.

"…free-zing…" he whimpered as his muscles began to relax.

"Don't do this." I begged, brushing my free hand against his face. "Please." I pleaded, "Stay with me!"

"Fai-san, help!" I cried desperately, looking back towards the door to see flashes of gold and blue and silver and black at the far end of the hallway. "Fai, hurry! "

"Syaoran. Hey," I shook him gently, turning my attention back towards him. "Syaoran…"

His only reply was in the form of a weak, unsteady struggle for breath.

"Fai!" I yelled once again. God! His breathing was so shallow… "Hang in there Syaoran. Don't give up now."

"…Sa-kur-a…" he croaked so softly I almost didn't hear him. "Sor…ry.. I… fai-led…" He drew in a shuddering gasp before his body fell completely limp in my arms, head rolling to one side as the air escaped from his lungs.

_This can't be happening._ My mind screamed at me. _This can't be happening._

"Fai-san." I called out but my voice was strangely dry and raspy. "F-Fai-san help." I tried in a bit louder voice but the hoarse whisper that reached my ears was nothing more than a dry rattle.

"Syaoran!" I frantically shook his shoulders. "Syaoran, please wake up!"

"…"I clutched him tightly to myself, afraid that if I let go, he would vanish completely.

"Fai-san help!" I finally managed to shriek, reality of what had just happened sinking in.

A sharp pain stabbed inside at my heart as the world around me grew silent, devoid of all sounds and feelings. A strange emptiness enveloped my entire being. He was gone. My most important person… I had failed him… He had pulled me back from the jaws of death and yet I had let him die… The pain was too much, the emptiness threatening to snuff out my soul, everything around me felt as though it was spinning out of control, and for a moment I thought I might go mad.

I held him even closer to my body as I shook. I couldn't contain the sadness… or the pain…

"SYAORAN!"

I don't know how long I held him in my arms, shaking and sobbing, clutching his prone body but then the time came when I heard a small gasp from the door.

"No…" I did not raise my head to look at him. It did not matter anymore.

The witch was right. We'd been too late. Too late…

"No!" Fai repeated as he slumped next to me. "Syaoran-kun..." He croaked. "No…"

We failed to save him. Syaoran was…

We failed…

Fai reached for Syaoran's wrist with jerky movements, his fingers pressing against Syaoran's cold flesh, searching for something that wasn't there.

"No…" he repeated, dropping his head to Syaoran's chest.

High-pitched, mirth-filled laughter reached my ears. The deranged sound echoed off the wall all around me suppressing the emptiness inside me as a new emotion crashed over me in waves. Besides me I felt Fai stiffen.

"What are you going to do now?" she cackled. "The boy is dead High Mage." She laughed. "What will you do now?"

-0-

_**A/N: And there you have it. Did you like it?**_

_**Syaoran got to meet Sakura and he even got a kiss. ;) Too bad I couldn't keep him alive. Well, I could but I didn't because this was a lot more fun. Although I really hope no angry mobs come after me until I get the next chapter out, which would be in a couple of days (I got a friend to help me out with the whole writing it down thing so it was finished early.)**_

_**By the way people, it saddens me to say this but this fic is now coming to a close, one more chapter it's finished. So please please please, leave lots of reviews and help me cross 100 before it ends. I'm not asking for something that's impossible since I get over three hundred hits for this fic so I know you guys can do it.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	19. Omake

_**A/N:**__** Hey everyone! The response to my last chapter was quite shocking and kind of unexpected. I was seriously thinking some threats were bound to come my way but all I got was you people telling me how awesome I am. ^_^ Actually no, not all of you said that but I know you were all thinking it so don't deny it.**_

_**Anyhow, for this final chapter- in which you can expect the unexpected, I would like to thank kim-onka who was kind enough to actually write it down for me since my life at present wasn't permitting me to do so myself.**_

_**Now, without further ado, please, go ahead and enjoy. **_

_**Don't forget to review (still need some of those to reach my goal of 100 reviews. ;) )**_

Fai's POV:

I stared ahead, into that loathsome, pale face with those soulless charcoal eyes, and I could feel the silent yet ruthlessly powerful rage intensify inside me. Even the bitter sadness which had previously overwhelmed me, the result of Syaoran's death, evolved into pure hatred feeding itself on the images of his mangled body.

"Akira." I mouthed, almost soundlessly.

The crazy witch who was responsible for the deaths of countless people, amongst whom there were some I had personally known and cherished.

Masooma, my carefree yet hardworking apprentice; the memory of her twinkling eyes or tinkling laughter would never leave me.

Kurogane, my dear friend with whom I had traveled to many worlds and shared so many experiences; the one who had helped me see the value of my own life.

And now, Syaoran, the kind and warmhearted boy who had suffered and persisted through so much and would never have given up, was lying there, nothing more than an empty lifeless shell of the person I had known. Next to him, Sakura was on her knees, shaken by violent sobs at the shock of his death.

That damned witch had chased away light from far too many eyes.

"You were too late, High Mage," she repeated, grinning wildly, "always too late!" As if I needed reminding. "Don't you _ever_ learn? Look at that poor little girl, she's lost her precious boyfriend; does she know who's fault that is?"

I cast a quick glance in Sakura's direction but she was oblivious to everything that was going on around her; her body still, the girl kept rocking back and forth over Syaoran's tormented body.

I could easily see what Akira was aiming at; turn the princess against me so that we would be defeated hands down. I could never deny the fact that I had failed all those I held dear but now wasn't exactly the best time to take the entire blame for this tragedy.

I would explain everything to her and apologize for my role in her loved one's demise but that would have to wait until after we had our revenge on Akira for everything she had put us through.

Our enemy was still Akira.

"I think we all know just whose fault it all is," I hissed at her, itching to unleash my vampire claws and shred that stupid nonchalantly amused face of hers to pieces. If anything, her smile only widened at this, as her gaze darted in Sakura's direction. I sensed the magic ripple through the air, heading in her direction but thankfully I managed to conjure a protective barrier around her just in time.

Sakura was brought out of her dazed state on hearing the resulting explosion.

Attacking my princess was the last straw, "You BITCH!!" I shouted, letting my rage and fury get the better of me. I threw myself in Akira's direction, summoning blue ribbons of spells from the tips of my now razor-sharp fingers.

All but impressed, the witch dodged the blow with a childish giggle and sent a kick, aimed for my stomach. Luckily I managed to avoid getting hit at the last moment, by dodging to the left. I swiped my hand, wanting to tear out her throat but she blocked my attack with a gleeful laugh.

Again and again I attacked, but she managed to evade my swipes with far more ease than I could dodge hers. She was much faster than I had anticipated. So fast that even my vampire senses and agility couldn't always catch up to her, and soon enough I was bleeding from several cuts dealt by her knife.

Still, I was sure I would be able to defeat her… was it not for the magic.

We kept exchanging blows and punches, while our magic swirled in the air around us, mine dancing in the form of blue Celesian runes and hers hanging as a cloud of heavy smoke. Each was aiming to overwhelm and suppress the other, and to my increasing panic mine was slowly and steadily yielding to Akira's power.

Along with the magic's strain, my ability to concentrate and the speed of my reactions were also gradually fading. Despite the rage boiling inside, I was beginning to worry for the outcome.

Seriously worry.

"Is anything wrong, Mage?" I heard that bitch's mock-concerned voice. "Relax, it's not like you need to watch over that girl, do you?"

Against my better judgement, that _did_ catch my attention. Sakura? _What_ else could happen to her now, if Akira was locked in a battle with me and all the minions were gone? Mighty as she was, the damned witch couldn't possibly fight me and harass the princess at the same time… right?

The woman chuckled idiotically in the process of ducking another one of my blows. Even I could see how chaotic and desperate they had become.

"Worry not, worry not" she derided, "you're not very good of taking care of people anyways, are you. So my apprentice will watch over her in your stead, isn't that lovely?"

Her high-pitched voice stabbed me more acutely than a knife ever could, knocking me out of the remnants of balance. The apprentice? Haven't I killed him?! How come..? Sakura!!

Was I dealing with my enemy only to lose another important person – the last important person, I might add – in the meantime?

At that moment it didn't occur to me that the bitch could be bluffing; and anyhow I soon found for myself that she wasn't after I had turned abruptly to locate Sakura.

It must've been due to my own battle's noises that her struggles hadn't made it through to my ears earlier, but now I was faced with her figure tussling in the bald man's firm grasp.

There was precious little time I was given to comprehend the picture before a swishing sound from behind told me that lowering my guard was not so good an idea, whatever the reason.

Kurogane's POV:

"WATCH OUT YOU IDIOT!!" I yelled, seeing the frickin' bitch lift some shackles which had been lying about on the floor and swing them into that stupid mage's head's direction.

Of course, he didn't hear me. And even if he had, as he most likely had heard the shackles themselves, he was too drained by the fight to react in time.

"FAI!!" The princess shrieked hoarsely when he collapsed on the dirty ground, apparently unconscious. The last lone ribbons of his azure magic disappeared eventually, incapable of further resistance without persistent will to control them.

Cackling maniacally, the witch stroked Fai's ribcage with her shoe's pointed tip, then turned him on his back by means of repeatedly kicking his side, which caused him to breathe in irregular, deep gasps.

"You thought you had him, didn't you? Whaaa, someone's being naïve!" The bitch's ridiculing, patronizing laughter filled the room. "That's not enough… to kill our _bodies_ isn't enough to stop us, High Mage!"

What the hell?!

So far, I hadn't as much as taken the possibility of failure into consideration, but what I was seeing now made me rethink that.

Was the mage going to give in too? Was he going to let Akira kill him… and the princess?

…Wasn't it actually happening right at the moment…?

"Wake up, moron! Wake up and FIGHT!!" Shouting hadn't achieved much so far, but I was so mad at my helplessness that I simply had to do that, at the very least. He _had_ heard me a few times, so maybe…

But the mage did not stir.

Resigned, I looked at the princess, whose exhausted figure was now loose against that bald bastard's grasp. She was staring dejectedly at the ground and I could see she was beginning to shake again.

Suddenly, I heard a sound of some sort coming from somewhere on the left. Preparing myself to face a new danger (though what could I do?), I allowed my gaze to venture cautiously in that direction, my body (if a ghost can have a body) tensing up.

Yet all I saw was a large metal box. For an inexplicable reason, I found it rather suspicious. But perhaps I was merely having paranoia after all of this.

A ghost with paranoia. Not what I wanted to achieve in life… or after it.

I gave the box one last glance before turning back to Fai, who was snapping out of confusion only to find himself with the grinning bitch's foot on his chest.

The feeling didn't seem to meet his tastes.

"You… you #*&%x!!!" The magician burst out with an impressive litany of invectives, evoking that insane giggle from the witch's throat.

Slight clanging came from the box's bearing. Nothing was there, though. Auditory hallucinations?

As if I didn't have enough problems.

Sakura was now weeping openly. The situation must've broken her to the very core; no hope, no help, everything in vain, everything gone.

Everything.

"Why -" the princess gasped for air and continued through her sobs, "why are doing this?! What have we done to you?! Kurogane-san, S-syaoran, Fai-san, me… w-what did we ever do to you?!" She wailed in desperation.

The bitch cut her laughter instantly to look at the girl.

"_What_ have you done?" She repeated in that vexingly high-pitched tone of hers and cackled again. "Why, I'll tell you-"

"My, my," a voice came from the left side of room, "if that doesn't sound just like that white dimension-hopping bunny of theirs! What do you say, Emily?"

The voice was greeted by a sudden silence as all heads turned unanimously to where that suspicious metal box of mine stood.

It was wide open, and inside there was a person crouching with a lazy, disinterested look on his face which was half-concealed by grey-white bangs, to the point where the very existence of that guy's left eye was questionable.

Raising the eyebrow over his right red eye, "But the box's lid is a heavy one here!" he added in mock complaint, casting a glance at a little creepy doll he carried on his shoulder.

I wondered if this guy was another of Akira's companions. They would suit each other.

Then, several things happened at the same time.

"Who are you and what on earth are you doing here?!" The bald bastard yelled, proving my supposition wrong.

"Wha-what are you saying?!" Sakura stuttered as she fell onto her knees, thrown away by her captor when he'd stepped forward. "Moko-chan?!"

Moko-chan?… right, Mokona… come to think of it, where was it all the time? I hadn't seen it with the others, I realised.

No sooner than I had thought that, the damn bitch's vibrating scream overshadowed any other sound.

"I am NOT a white dimension-hopping bunny!! I am a white dimension-hopping bunny WITH A RED JEWEL STUCK ON ITS HEAD!!!"

Sakura's POV:

I watched in horror as the witch's stomach rapidly opened in two neat doors, while her entire body froze instantly in an unnatural pose.

In the middle of our enemy's body, in a cosy and apparently comfortable cabin, there sat Mokona with its long ears trembling at their ends as a sign of uncontrollable fury.

The stranger in the metal box didn't seem particularly affected by the passionate hatred focused on him at the moment, however. Not even by the revelation he had just witnessed.

"My apologies," he said politely, touching the edge of his decorated top hat in a mark of a little bow. "Anyhow, the one I'm looking for is a black rabbit without any jewels, so I guess I'll be leaving now, goodbye everyone!"

Having bid his cheerful goodbye, he grabbed the lid of the box and closed himself inside.

My oppressor, the supposed witch's apprentice, jumped to the chest and opened it again, but found nothing.

"What was that?!" He demanded, looking at Fai, who was trying to liberate himself from under the unmoving woman's shoe; at me, still in the place where he'd let me go, my body too numb to move; and finally at Mokona popping out of the witch's abdomen.

No one seemed able to provide him with any answer, so he decided to pass over it to more pressing matters.

"Don't move, you!" He shouted at Fai, next he walked past me – probably deciding such a warning would be pointless as I couldn't move either way – and approached Mokona.

Mokona… how could I not notice it was missing? Communicating freely was so natural that I didn't pay attention to the bunny's role, but even so – was it a spell of some sort?

After a while of such and similar thoughts it dawned on me that there were issues of greater relevance just now. Well, perhaps one could be somewhat slow on the uptake after having witnessed death of one's beloved, being in a poor psychophysical condition oneself AND having seen a guy come out of an empty box.

Perhaps.

Still...It appeared that Mokona had killed Kurogane-san and Syaoran, and now was threatening to kill me and Fai.

Mokona. Moko-chan. Our Mokona!

I blinked, realising that something must be fundamentally wrong with the structure of the Time-Space. Maybe we hadn't fixed it properly?

"Sakura." I heard my name spoken in that all too familiar childish voice. "You asked why Mokona was doing it all you."

"Uhm, yes I did" I replied, feeling utterly stupid all of sudden, and at the same time progressively more afraid.

"Well, look at how you treated Mokona, all of you!!" The white creature moaned, raising its eyes, wide open as if in a *_Mekyo!_ *, which motion indicated it was calling the dark ceiling to testify its accusations. "You NEVER treated Mokona seriously, not like Mokona deserved to be treated!"

While speaking, the bunny kept approaching Fai, who stared at it in disbelief from his place under the figure's – robot's? – foot and began letting out quiet though distinctly hysteric laughter.

"HE was the same!" The apprentice proclaimed, lifting his hands in that – seemingly – omniscient ceiling's direction. "Mokona just could stand it no more!" Upon which declaration the man's stomach opened too, revealing the black equivalent of our main tormenter.

I thought that from that moment on nothing would surprise me again. Normally, it'd be a reckless assumption, but my life didn't show many hopes for lasting longer that about an hour, so I decided I could allow it.

"He…" Fai murmured, "…Watanuki-kun?"

"You've no idea how awful he was to Mokona!" The black bunny assured us indignantly. If it hoped we would show more sympathy than the ceiling, it was disappointed.

"They're all the same!" The white one followed, finally jumping onto Fai's chest. "Now, I shall have your magic."

Fai tried to protest, but choked on his own words as Mokona started to drain his magic powers from his body and absorbing into its tiny form.

"That'll teach you not to treat Mokona as a dimension-hopping bunny, while Mokona is a dimension-hopping bunny with a red jewel stuck on its head!"

"Yeah!!" The black Mokona cheered, "That'll teach them!! The reality will be ours soon enough!!"

"No…" I forced a weak word out of my dry mouth as Fai's magic essence was leaking out of him and flowing into Mokona's shining red jewel.

On the corners of my blurring vision I could see small, fluffy creatures with long ears, their fur all the colours of the rainbow, pouring into the room like an apocalyptic avalanche.

In fact, it might have been just it. An apocalyptic avalanche of bunnies.

In a mixture of gaudy paints, the world trembled, whirled and finally shattered…

…and then, there wasn't anything.

Some random dude's POV:

I walked through the park in a leisure pace, happy to have chosen a longer and definitely more enjoyable path home. The birds were singing cheerfully, the sun was warm, the hour was still early and I was pretty happy in general.

In such positive conditions I encountered a bunny. It was sitting quietly under a bush and watching me with cautious eyes.

"Hey, bunny!" I greeted it. Things like that do happen when I'm in a good mood.

The creature blinked slowly. Suddenly I felt uneasy. Also, I noticed that there was something wrong with its head, as if something was stuck on it or whatever.

"Hey? Bunny?"

"Whaaaaaaaa!!" The animal screamed, making me back off a few steps. Oh crap, what- wait, I _was_ in a good mood – had there been anything in my coffee..?

"I am NOT a bunny!!" The fluffy fur ball demanded, exposing its pointy teeth. (Hadn't I overworked myself lately??) "I am a PLOT BUNNY WITH A JEWEL STUCK ON ITS HEAD!!"

Aha. Very well.

"You'll see, you miserable human, we'll show you how to treat us seriously!" So far, so good. "There are mighty among us! Mighty who can travel between worlds!!"

"Like… a dimension-hopping bunny?" I asked skeptically.

The creature hissed. I'd never known bunnies can hiss.

Over my head, I heard a long, high-pitched, wailing call.

"I-AM-A-WHITE-DIMENSION-HOPPING-BUNNY-WITH-A-RED-JEWEL-STUCK-ON-ITS-HEEAAAAAAAD!!!"

But before I could look up to identify the source of that sound, I felt a hard blow on the back of my head and passed out.

When I woke up… the world was not the one I remembered.

And it had been such a nice day.

Motto~!

Treat bunnies seriously… or else…

_**A/N**__**: And there you have it. It's finally ended. **_

_**So what do you think? Awesome, right?**_

_**Kurogane: What the f**kin hell was all that crap?**_

_**Me: ***__**looks affronted***__** Excuse me?!**_

_**Kurogane: Yeah you heard me. **_

_**Fai: I think I'm gonna have to agree with Kuro on this one.**_

_**Sakura: ***__**nods**__*****_

_**Syaoran's ghost: I thought this was supposed to have a semi-happy ending.**_

_**Me: Yeah.**_

_**Fai: I don't really see how this can be seen as a happy ending.**_

_**Me: And you point is?**_

_**Kuro-ghost: *grabs author by the shoulders and starts shaking her very violently* The point is you idiot, that what the hell happened to **_**happy**_** in the happy ending?!**_

_**Me: Um… It got squashed by Mokona?**_

_**Fai: That's another thing. Mokona? How in the world did you end up with… with Akira turning out to be Mokona in a robot disguise?**_

_**Me: Well… see the thing is… Me and kim were having a discussion a couple of weeks back and the question of Mokona's whereabouts in this fic was raised. **_**This**_** just happens to be the answer that I gave her. After a little more discussion a plot bunny was born.**_

_**Plot bunny: Plot bunny with a jewel on its head!**_

_**Me: Yes. Yes. Plot bunny with a jewel stuck on its head was born and it was just too good to not write down, thus this final chapter.**_

_**Sakura: So is this really the end of this story? **_

_**Me: I **_**could**_** say yes but then all my awesome readers out there would truly want to kill me so I suppose I'm gonna have to tell the truth. Fai, could you please tell me what date it is today? **_

_**Fai: It's the first of April.**_

_**Sakura and Syaoran: Hey! That's my birthday!**_

_**Me: **__**Happy birthday you two, but that's not why I asked him. Today also happens to be April's Fools day… Do you see where I am going with this?**_

_**Everyone: *glares***_

_**Me: *slowly backs away* Erm, yeah… Sorry if I offended you guys but it was just meant to be a small joke. I mean you gotta admit, it **_**was**_** funny, no? And besides, nobody ever truly did wonder where our favorite white dimension hopping bunny vanished after the first chapter.**_

_**Well, here is your answer. Sort of. **_

_**Now for the more pressing question that Sakura raised, is this really the end of the story?**_

_**You tell me? Do you really think that after all those endless hours that I toiled over this story, building up all the tension and angst and tragedy level, I would end it on a note like this? Of course not.**_

_**This can be considered an omake of sorts if you will. The real chapter nineteen still needs a few finishing touches b4 I can send it to my beta for checking for my stupid grammatical mistakes. Hopefully, it will be up by Monday. And before you ask, no, that is not the last chapter either. There are still a lot of loose ends that need tying up, plus there's the question of my semi-happy ending. I can't pull it off in one chapter so worry not my friends, there's more to come. ;)**_

_**Hope you still enjoyed this chapter and rolled on the floor while laughing just as much as I did when I read it. Please review and tell me what you thought. **_

_**-Nims.**_

_**PS. Flames will be used to roast the evil Mokona. **_

_**PSS. Wow, this is one loooong author's note.**_

**Quiz!**

Who's the guy in the box in Kuro's POV and who is he looking for?? Cookies for anyone who can guess.


	20. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Aloha everyone! So how did you guys find my fake final chapter? ;) ;)**_

_**Sorry if it made you want to kill me at first but anyhow, as promised, here is the **_**real**_** chapter 19 which by the way, just so you know, is **_**not**_** the last chapter of the story. We still have some things to cover before we get an ending so you might have to endure reading this for a while longer.**_

_**And now, before I forget, this chapter is dedicated to all those who reviewed my story or added it to their alerts/ favs list since that is what kept me writing on. This is especially dedicated to Kuro-Ryu-Neko, who reviewed all 19 chapters in one go and helped me achieve my target of a 100 reviews, and to my Beta kim-onka who was kind enough to write the previous chapter for me. Thanks a lot you guys! ^_^**_

_**Now, without further ado, please go ahead and enjoy.**_

Hearing Sakura's scream, I rushed to the cell as fast as I could, praying for only one thing all the time. _Let him be okay. Let him be okay. Please. Let him be okay._

But then I got to the door and my eyes instantly locked in on the limp figure in Sakura's arms.

"No…" all I could see was his pale, gaunt face, his closed eyes sunken in his sockets, his cracked lips parted slightly as though he had difficulty breathing through his nose. My eyes moved lower, towards his chest, but there was no rise and fall, neither steady nor unsteady.

"No!" Why wasn't his chest moving? Why were his eyes closed like that?! Why was he…

"Syaoran-kun…" I whispered numbly as my feet automatically carried me closer to him and his princess. "No…"

He was…

No!

No! It's not possible! He wasn't supposed to…

I dropped beside him, my mind repeating the word 'no' like a mantra that would make this all turn into some bad dream.

"No…" I put my head over his heart, wrongly hoping to hear a faint fluttering beat when cold lifeless body kept trying to tell me otherwise. My emotions were in wild disarray and it was very hard to keep my magic contained within my body. The grief that I felt. The hopelessness that tried to swallow me completely. The wild energy whizzing inside me, wanting to be unleashed on the world for what had just happened. It was all kept at bay by one thing and one thing alone.

Sakura.

If I lost it now, I would no doubt end up wounding her.

But Syaoran…

Oh God…

I had failed him.

But he wasn't the only one I had failed.

I had promised Sakura we would find him…

Why had I never promised her that we would _save_ him?

Was it because deep down, somewhere, a subconscious part of me knew that this would happen?

And Kurogane…

He had believed in me. He had trusted me to look after his apprentice.

I had failed them, just like I had failed _her._

Akira's deranged laughter managed to break through the waves of sadness, emptiness and guilt crashing over me. My whole body stiffened at that sound.

"What are you going to do now?" Akira chortled, "The boy is dead High Mage. What will you do now?"

I took in a slow, shaky breath as I climbed to my feet; my eyes were tightly shut as I tried to reel in all my emotions save for a select few. I was well aware of the wetness that had trailed down my cheeks as I had tried to find Syaoran's non-existent pulse but I would cry no more. I felt my slightly elongated nails as they dug into the palms of my fisted hands but I paid it no mind.

I bared my teeth as she continued to cackle.

"I suppose it's time I kept my promise," she said with a hearty sigh as I felt a grey haze appear in the doorway. "Ready to die High Mage?"

"Are you?" I was surprised by how calm my voice sounded, given the fact that I was thirsting for her blood on the inside. I wanted that bitch to pay… I wanted everything that had happened to just undo itself… Syaoran… Kurogane…Masooma… I wanted them back… I wanted their lives back…

"Not really, no." she answered back with a giggle.

I tightened my grip on the hilt of Ginryuu as my eyes snapped open. "That's too bad." I declared before rushing forward, bringing the blade along in a low arc so that I could cut through her torso. Akira seemed to have anticipated this attack since she moved out of the way with the same inhuman speed that I possessed thanks to Kamui's blood.

Akira's grin widened, if that was even possible, as she raised her hand and two swords materialized in the air before her, she grabbed the hilts of the twin black metal blades and swung them around, slashing at me faster than the speed of light. I countered her blows, with relative ease, managing to add some of my magic to strengthen my counter-attacks.

We kept at it for quite a while, neither of us succeeding in hurting the other but neither of us backing down either. We both wanted the other's blood.

"It seems like you were holding back the last time we fought Mage." She stated in a matter-of-factly way as she swished her dual swords at my chest, "So I suppose that girl wasn't important enough."

I knew what she was trying to do by rubbing me the wrong way; she was hoping to make me lose control so that I might make some mistake that might give her an upper hand. And damn her for it as she was nearly succeeding. It was very hard for me to keep a straight mind as it was and I did not need to hear her stupid voice to make it even worse.

"Just like that bastard of an apprentice wasn't important enough to you I suppose," I gave her a cold smirk as I parried the first blade and dodged the second, "You didn't put up much of a fight either back then."

I suppose I was more successful in my attempt at getting her riled up since no sooner had the words left my mouth that her face transformed into a look of pure rage and hatred.

"You bastard!" she shrieked as her tainted magic began materializing around her, "I'll kill you!"

"He was executed by the Saru poison," I continued nonchalantly as I discretely called upon my own magic to shield me and Sakura from harm. "Surely you would know what it can do to a magician, wouldn't you, Akira?" For some reason, her rage and fury pleased me. A part of me glad to be able to do to her what she had done to me.

"Shut up!" she screeched as her wild aura lashed out at me. I felt my defensive magic begin to take effect not a fraction of a second later.

She attacked with more ferocity but my shield did not relent. She gave up on an all out magical attack after a couple of minutes, swinging her swords in a complicated yet wild pattern as she came at me once again.

I dug my heels in the ground in an effort to block her twin blades from slicing me into three pieces; I gritted my teeth in an effort to force her back while she did the same with me. Akira lashed out with her leg, which hit me painfully in the side, making me gasp as my attention diverted and one of her swords nearly slice me in half.

She returned with another powerful blow and all I could do at the moment was step under it to avoid being cleaved as I felt my muscles protest. Well, that fight with her new bald apprentice had consumed quite a lot of my energy and even though that bastard had managed to vanish in a thick magical smog, he had gotten my injured arm to start bleeding again.

That and all my previous fights with her stationed bodyguards had worn me down a little. Had I been fully rested, I might have had a better chance of holding out against her but now?

"Tell me mage," she whispered as she looked at me crazed eyes, "whose magic would you like to go up against? The boy's whom I've just killed or that ninja's whose techniques you stole, or that weakling of a witch's that was your apprentice?"

"…" I remained silent as I hurled a spell in her direction.

"Perhaps you would like to go against all three of them," she cackled after a while when my spell was swatted away by the newer auras that joined her own to strengthen that dark shield of impenetrable magical energy that surrounded her. "I'll make you suffer like every single one of them," she promised softly as bolts of magic which contained the auras I was familiar with mixed with her own dark magic shot in my direction.

"Hama Ryou Jin!" I cried as I spun around, concentrating my magic into the blade before releasing it all in large burst of energy which slammed into those bolts, throwing them off their intended course. "You're dead!" I lunged at her, the wall that I had been carefully locking up all my emotions behind finally breaking down. Blue static energy buzzed in the air that surrounded me.

-0-

Fai and the witch were sparring with an inhuman speed and the power radiating off both of them was enough to make me feel dizzy. The air was alive with magic, everything was permeated by those auras, Fai's strong yet dangerous one as well as the Kurogane-san's and Syaoran's which were now tainted by Akira's pitch black one. There was a third unfamiliar aura in that tainted mix, however from the look on Fai's face, I knew he knew who it had belonged to.

I watched in silence, subconsciously tightening my grip on Syaoran as the two fought with ferocious intensity. Their thrusts and blocks held so much power that it left the ground rumbling, their spells strong enough to decimate whatever they touched. It was like watching some sort of twisted dance, their movements fluid and elegant beyond belief, even if they held a wild edge to them.

For most part, the witch had her attention focused on Fai but for a fraction of a second her gaze had flickered in my direction. Not an instant later, a barrage of offensive spells was hurtled our way.

"No!" Fai cried as he sent his own runes to protect us from the incoming volley of attacks, a glowing blue shield forming a dome around us to fend anything sent our way, but it seemed as if the witch had been anticipating such a move on Fai's part, since the next minute, Fai was on the ground, sporting a large bleeding gash that ran from the tip of his shoulder to the middle of his torso.

He ignored the cut, hopping back on his feet in a flash but the witch wasted no time, attacking him again. Her face held no remorse, as if her deranged gleeful expression was anything to go by and she did not seem to be showing any restraint towards him.

She charged at Fai in a blur of black and pale gold, her swords flashing in the light of the chandelier Fai had conjured. I could see that Fai was weakening, his injuries taking their toll on him yet my body remained frozen when he returned her strike with a loud grunt.

I knew I had to help him, but my muscles were bound in place, rendering me unable to move. I couldn't even reach out for the sword that lay not more than a foot away from me.

Fai darted forward once again, both of them having jumped away from one another previously after a rather explosive standstill. Akira however seemed to have anticipated this as well as she sidestepped at the last minute, spinning around to slam her foot into Fai's back as he passed her, sending him crashing into the stone wall.

"Would you like to hear how your beloved Syaoran died?" Her chilling voice reached my ears, "Would you like me to tell you how I killed him?"

Her words reignited the hate-filled fire burning deep within my heart. Despite all that I had been through, hatred was still such a foreign feeling for me but it felt so comforting. It shielded me from my pain and sorrow and despair and the emptiness that Syaoran's death had left in me. It eradicated my necessity to feel all those things as it filled my entire being, leaving room for nothing else.

I felt the invisible force holding me down vanish as Fai struggled to get back on his feet. My gaze traveled down to me hands that had been clutching onto the shirt of the boy I had loved with all my heart, from there it traveled to his pale, bloodied face, taking in the sight of his blue parted lips and sunken hollow cheeks with blackish veins contrasting sharply against his ghostly white skin.

The glinting sword lying next to him caught my attention after that before moving back to Akira's twisted face. _She_ was the cause of all of this. That woman, that… that witch had been the one who had hurt so many people, had murdered Kurogane-san, hurt someone else close to Fai-san and tortured, blinded and then _killed_ my most precious person. She had taken them all away.

She was slowly advancing towards Fai-san who was clearly having trouble standing on his feet. My jaw clenched as I reached out for the sword, taking one last fleeting look at his face as I gently rested Syaoran's head on the cold floor.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered softly as I climbed to my feet, feeling a strange numbness creep all over my body. The one person who had always made me feel safe and protected was gone. This had to end before I lost Fai-san as well.

This demented witch _had_ to be stopped.

A cool breeze swept through the cell as my resolve strengthened.

What Akira had done was unforgivable, she would not go unpunished.

I would make sure of that.

"Syaoran…" I whispered under my breath as I stepped around his body and moved towards the witch now looming over Fai-san, "Kurogane-san…" I breathed, seeking out strength from their spirits, "Fai-san…"

_Everything that I am today, it's all because of you. It's because of you that I am alive… it is because of you that I am… strong…_

As my own magic rippled and awakened inside of me along with Syaoran's, there was no denying it, I was.

_**A/N: And there you have it. Sakura is about to go up against Akira. What do you think would happen now? Will she be able to beat the deranged witch or will she be overpowered like Fai?**_

_**And what do you think her reaction would be about Fai's involvement in Syaoran's death?**_

_**What about Kurogane? How would **_**he**_** react? Cuz believe it or not, the next chapter will be told by our favorite ninja/ghost. ;)**_

_**Waiting for your opinions and thoughts on the matter, most popular choices might end up getting incorporated into the story so don't hesitate to let me know.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	21. Chapter 20

When they had buried my body back in Nihon, I had witnessed the strength of the mage's resolve to find my killers. Even though he had become desperate in the following six months, his determination had not wavered in the slightest bit.

Then, that bitch kidnapped Syaoran, and still he persisted. He searched on relentlessly, using everything he had at his disposal till he was forced to stop due to exhaustion. I had seen him pass out on that leather couch as he had forced himself to break through the protective wards that witch had placed to keep him from finding her location.

I knew he had lost someone precious to her before; if his mumbled apologies during those times when he fell asleep or passed out were any indication. I also knew that he was willing to do anything, give up anything at all to prevent that fate from befalling on Syaoran as well. He wanted to keep the boy safe. I knew that.

But just because you want something doesn't mean you can accomplish it. I wanted to be there for them, to be that father-head figure of the family that we all had become. But I was dead. No matter how much I wanted it to be, I could never stay with them forever. It was like the mage said; I had to move on sooner or later.

But the kid?

Oh God…

I had rushed inside that dark cell, right behind the princess as the mage had engaged that bitch's apprentice to buy Sakura some time. I was there when the jade-eyed girl had freed Syaoran from his binds and rested his head on her lap. I was watching, whispering gentle words of encouragement to the kid, hoping that he would be able to hear me as the princess was weeping and begging for him to recognize her.

I was still by his side, urging him not to let go as the princess was pouring her magic into his body to heal him. Thanks to whatever that bitch had put in him, it took some time before the healing powers of Sakura's magic kicked in, but surely they were working since I could sense his broken spirit mend itself, little by little. A small flicker of hope had sparkled in the princess's eyes when the kid had finally given her a response, no matter how small.

Even though seconds later she discovered that he had not recognized her. What exactly had that bitch done to him during the time I had been with the mage and Sakura? The princess still tried to revive him, though there was no improvement in the kid's condition. If anything, it worsened. I felt Akira's dark magic overpowering Sakura's pure energy in his body, mutating it to something foul and deadly which reversed all the progress that had been made so far and some more. The smoldering embers of rage in my heart were once again set ablaze when I realized how this new power was killing the kid.

"It's your magic!" I had yelled uselessly, hoping that perhaps her ghost-sensing powers would get a miraculous boost and she would be able to hear me and then maybe the kid could be saved.

But I was wrong. It wasn't my place to hope.

The kid died in her arms, mere seconds before the mage arrived. The magician tried to deny the truth that Syaoran's soul was no longer in his body. I sensed his spirit leave but I didn't feel it reappear in a ghostly, earthen-bound form.

The kid…

He was truly gone…

I snarled in anger and pounced on the witch as soon as this reality registered in my mind. Beside me, I watched the mage do the same. However while Fai's blows were skillfully deflected or blocked, none of my attacks ever managed to even so much as touch her, all of my ghostly appendages passing right through her. Oh God, how I wanted to be able to borrow a little of the mage's magic at that time, just so I could rip that bitch apart, limb from limb in the most painful way possible.

Why the f**k did I have to be like this? Why couldn't I have been like a normal ghost? With the ability to make myself tangible when I needed to be at the very least?

The mage was exchanging blows with that crazy bitch, while I was uselessly trying to pound her into the ground. I was good for nothing. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help them save the kid and now? Now… I couldn't even kill the one who had dared to hurt him enough to end his life. Couldn't even friggin' _touch_ that bitch let alone eradicate her.

These thought buzzed around in my mind as Fai and Akira fought ruthlessly. I had never before seen Fai fight like this and apparently neither had that bitch. Magic crackled wildly in the air as attacks, magical and physical alike destroyed the building around us. As the ceiling gave way in one corner of the room, my attention snapped back on the princess who was still clutching on to Syaoran's body as though he would vanish the instant she let go.

A loud crash and a startled cry from Fai made me look back in his direction only to find him on the ground, a long bleeding gash across most of his upper body and while it wasn't anything life-threatening alone, the injury could cost the idiot his life by slowing his reactions. He struggled to pick himself off of the ground but so far wasn't having much success.

"Come on you idiot! Get up!" I yelled once again, forgetting that I would not be heard as Akira advanced on him with her blades drawn, poised and ready to strike.

"I'm so sorry," I heard the princess whisper softly behind me, making me once again turn around to observe her small figure which was reaching out for the kid's sword. She stood up after gently resting my apprentice's original's head on the ground and stepping around him to face the witch.

Akira stopped in her advance towards the mage as she turned around to regard the princess.

Sakura's bloodshot eyes were no longer shedding any tears; instead, I witnessed the flame of determination burning in the depth of her jade orbs as she stared at the witch. A small wind was picking up around her small frame, whipping her caramel-colored locks about her face.

"I won't let you harm anyone else." Her resolve clearly permeated her tone.

The witch let out a derisive laugh before she narrowed her eyes.

"You think a little girl like you can stop me when your precious friends could not?"

Fai was breathing heavily, trying to climb back to his feet on shaky legs. Sakura cast a glance in his direction before looking back at the witch.

"It's not a question of if I can, witch.' She answered in a surprisingly calm tone, the power radiating off her being was something I had encountered only once before, back in the ruins of Clow, during our fight with that bastard, Fei Wong.

"So confident of your abilities," the woman chuckled as she took up a stance, "Let me shatter that faith." She said with a smirk as her dark heavy cloud of magic began to thicken. She twirled the broadswords around her, the dark magic following their path, condensing into thick, pitch black ribbons of shimmering liquidy gas.

The princess's jaw clenched as her own eyes narrowed slightly, the energy around her alive with anticipation. In less than a fraction of a second the witch whipped her blades in Sakura's direction, shooting ribbons of her impure aura at the princess.

A silver barrier erected itself before the jade-eyed girl, protecting her from the attack, letting the magic rebound and hit the stone wall behind the witch.

"What?!" the witch shrieked, her eyes widening in indignation.

"I'm not a helpless little girl anymore," Sakura spoke calmly, her tone soft and barely audible in comparison to the Akira's screams.

"I _will_ destroy you!" the bitch screeched as she rushed at the princess who was ready for the incoming assault. She skillfully blocked the twin blades, kicking out with her leg to throw Akira away.

"I won't let you." The princess answered calmly as the wind howled and raged all around her. The ground shook beneath my feet as the two clashed their swords once again, the witch screaming in blind fury as Sakura blocked and parried her thrusts.

"Sakura-chan." Fai whispered as he finally managed to stand up; closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, I could feel the released magic as an azure aura surrounding his body when he exhaled. His vampire claws had long since retracted but the gold cat-like slitted eyes of his returned when he opened them. He reached down and picked up Ginryuu once again.

Bits and pieces of broken stones rose from the rubble in his wake as he began moving towards the fighting duo. He readied his sword and charged at the witch, the silver blade flashing brilliantly as it sliced the air, sailing straight for her head. But the witch sensed him coming at the last moment, successfully dodging the attack.

"Eager to join the fight, aren't we Mage?" Akira taunted as she jumped away from the two.

"Eager to finish you." Fai spat as he dashed forward, swinging the sword once more.

"Oh?" that bitch laughed maniacally. "Really now? But wouldn't you like to know how I broke your precious Syaoran? How I shattered him to the very core so that after losing all hope of being rescued by the two of you, he begged me to kill him and end his miserable existence? How he didn't even fight back when I stripped him of his magic?"

"Sakura-chan," the mage whispered gently, looking over at the slightly shaking girl who had her head facing the ground, eyes hidden behind her long messy bangs. The wind still raged around her.

"By the way _Princess_," the witch spoke the word like it was poison on her tongue, "do you even know whose fault all this mess truly is?"

The mage stiffened, his face suddenly drained of all color.

"Oh my," Akira looked at the idiot in mock surprise, "don't tell me you haven't told her High Mage." This aroused my curiosity just as much as it did Sakura's. The bitch was connected to the mage's past. I had managed to deduce this much quite a long time ago; however what this connection was, that I had no idea. Well, I knew he had lost someone to her before but I didn't know the whole story.

"Oh, this is simply unbelievable!" the bitch exclaimed as her dark eyes glittered with malicious glee. "The mighty Fai D Flourite, High Mage of Ashura-ou's royal court, never told his precious princess about how he got his own beloved apprentice killed? Ah! This is priceless." She cackled while the mage stood there as though he were a statue carved out of marble.

"It's actually quite similar to how he got your boyfriend killed." She continued nonchalantly.

"Shut up." A low inhuman growl emanated from the mage's throat.

"My my. I seem to have touched a nerve."

"Shut up you bitch!" the blond idiot rushed at the witch, slashing at her as I saw his claws elongate slightly once again.

"Oye princess, don't just stand there. Move! Help the mage!" I yelled, trying to get the girl's attention. The wind surrounding her had died down. She still had not moved from her place but her head snapped up not an instant later.

"Kurogane-san?" she stared in my direction in disbelief.

"Now is not the time to gawk at me kid." I told her, "The idiot is gonna need your help."

"I-I know." She nodded, her grip tightening on the hilt of the sword in her hand once again.

"Then don't just stand there." I growled impatiently as I heard the idiot snarl, causing me to focus my attention back on the fighting pair. "I'll kill you! You took them away from me! All of them. I'll kill you!"

I didn't know why I had become visible all of a sudden but I wasn't going to complain about it.

As Sakura joined the fray, attacking the bitch and helping the idiot, I felt something strange. For the first time since I had died, I felt pain. I gasped, looking down at myself to notice that tendrils of that bitch's magic were snaking their way across my body, wrapping themselves around my arms and legs and torso. Where ever they touched me, my skin burned in response as though someone was pouring acid on my body.

It almost felt as if it was eating away at my ghostly flesh.

A couple of seconds later, with a jolt, I realized that that was exactly what was happening.

That bitch's magic was freaking_ eating_ away my very soul.

"Fai, Fai, Fai." The witch giggled as one of the mage's attacks hit home, cutting through the flesh of her right arm. "You'll never learn."

The mage did not respond as he spun out of the way to let the princess attack but the bitch parried her blade.

"Did you ever wonder what happened to Masooma's soul?"

"Don't you dare speak her name!" enraged, he attacked once again while I remained frozen in place, watching helplessly as the magic burned deeper into my skin. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't move. Such was the nature of the spell being performed on me.

"Fine, I won't speak her name," the bitch grinned widely at him. "But let's see if you can save your ninja's soul from being erased from existence."

"What?!" shocked, the idiot whipped his head around, his eyes scanning the room before locking on me. "No…" he gasped. I wondered what he was seeing.

"Watch out!" I tried to yell, only to find that I couldn't speak. With the deranged grin still in place, the witch rushed at Fai, her blades aiming for his heart and torso but he did not sense her coming. My eyes widened in shock as I saw her blades pierce flesh, spraying blood on her face. Probably feeling something warm on his back, the mage whirled around just in time to see Sakura collapse on the ground on her knees, with blood trickling out of the side of her mouth. Akira's eyes were wide with surprise as well. Her gaze traveled down to the sword sticking out of her stomach before she fixed her sight on the fallen princess who had one blade sticking out of her shoulder and the other out of her abdomen.

"SAKURA!" we both screamed at the same time.

The princess coughed up blood as the witch retracted her blades, her dark magic pulsating, shooting sparks of that shimmering liquid like power of hers, incinerating anything it touched. A couple of those drops landed on the princess, making her cry out weakly. Akira's grin widened so much it almost looked like her face was going to split in half.

"You have a habit of letting down everyone you love," she cackled, pulling out Sakura's sword from her stomach, letting it clatter next to the princess's gasping form. "Your beloved apprentice back in Celes died screaming out for you, begging for you to save her," her voice echoed all around us, "and if you had really wanted to, you could have gotten to her in time. It's not like I didn't leave enough clues for you. Hell, she was still alive when you found her. Too bad, the High Mage never learnt how to heal someone. Seems like your inability is going to cost you another precious person." Her body dissolved into a dark mist which spread throughout the room.

"Perhaps the princess would like to see what I showed you that other night," her voice echoed all around us. "Tell me Sakura, do you want to observe your precious boyfriend's last moments in this world?" A cloud of dark magic covered the girl's face before she could respond, choking her as it obscured her face completely from view.

"What about you ninja?" she laughed right next to my ear, causing me to let out a strangled yelp as the magic cut in deep into my body. "The mighty Kurogane." She giggled. "Have you enjoyed your time in this plane?

I felt the dark tendrils split in two everywhere on my body, enveloping me completely, speeding up the process of her magic destroying my soul.

I helplessly looked at Fai, who was visibly shaking but his head was lowered towards the ground, effectively hiding his face from view.

I felt a large amount of power gather up inside of him. It welled up, concentrating as an azure aura became discernible around him. His hair flapped wildly around his face as he looked up to lock his gaze in my direction, his cerulean eyes glowing in a shade of an otherworldly blue, the cat-like slits that marked him as a vampire showing through the blue haze.

Akira stepped into my line of vision with a scowl on her face, "I will not allow you to leave this place alive, High Mage."

The blue aura dancing around Fai converged inwards while the building around us rumbled dangerously. A part of the roof crumbled and fell on the spot where Syaoran lay, though thankfully a wind-shielding spell- probably cast by Sakura- protected his body from harm. As it threatened to give way beneath the weight of the rock on top of it, a beam of bright blue shot out to help stabilize the shield, lending it the strength to fulfill its purpose even without its caster's willpower.

"Die you miserable bitch!" and with that, their swords clashed once again.

_**A/N: Oh no. I have done it again. Now Sakura is hurt and Kurogane's soul is about to be destroyed. Will Fai be able to save them? Or will he fail just like with Masooma and Syaoran?**_

_**Stay tuned to find out.**_

_**-Nims.**_

_**PS. Don't forget to review. ;)**_


	22. Chapter 21

_**A/N: Here you go. Enjoy!**_

I felt my stomach drop as Akira moved in to attack Fai. There was no way he was going to avoid her in time. Not unless…

I rushed towards him, my sword thrusting forward. Metal pierced through flesh, spraying blood in the air. At first, I felt nothing at all, but then, all of a sudden, white hot pain exploded in my stomach and right shoulder, overwhelming me enough to make me let go of the hilt of my sword. My knees shook before my legs gave out completely; something metallic and bitter filled my mouth as I collapsed.

I heard Fai and Kurogane-san scream my name but I couldn't answer as the witch in front of me pulled out her blades, making me cough and choke on my own blood. Droplets of something dark and vile landed on my body, burning skin and flesh alike. I let out a weak cry, my vision blurring due to the enormity of the pain that I felt at that time.

"You have a habit of letting down everyone you love," I heard the witch cackle but her voice sounded oddly distant as though she was speaking from afar. It took me a few moments to realize that she was talking to Fai. "Your beloved apprentice back in Celes died screaming out for you, begging for you to save her, and if you had really wanted to, you could have gotten to her in time. It's not like I didn't leave enough clues for you. Hell, she was still alive when you found her. Too bad, the High Mage never learnt how to heal someone. Seems to like your inability is going to cause you another precious person." I could tell she was looking at me as she said that but then her body dissolved into a dark mist and spread throughout the room.

"Perhaps the princess would like to see what I showed you that other night," her voice echoed all around me. "Tell me Sakura, do you want to observe your precious boyfriend's last moments in this world?" In my current state, I had no chance of saving myself from the dark shimmering cloud of her tainted magic as it began to overwhelm me.

All of a sudden I found myself in a dimly lit room with a flickering light bulb in the middle. There was a metal table right underneath it and strapped on top of it was Syaoran. He was unharmed except for a red mark in the shape of a handprint on his cheek. Akira was standing over him, a metal clamp in one hand; she leaned next to his ear and whispered something so softly that I could not hear her.

She pulled away and gave a wide grin to Syaoran before attaching the clamp that she held in her hand to the table. There was a pause as she observed him as he squirmed and struggled, shaking like a leaf, his face drained of all color as he tried to free himself.

He looked so terrified. An emotion I had never before witnessed on his face.

Seconds ticked by before the second clamp was attached. Syaoran's back arched as electricity tore through his body, a pained scream escaping his mouth as he writhed with his eyes screwed shut. The sound was so chilling; it made all the hair on my body stand up as I gaped at the scene plaing out before me.

I could not believe this…

I could not believe I was seeing this…

I couldn't believe this had _happened_…

I could not believe that Syaoran…

That he…

-0-

"Die you miserable bitch!" I screamed in rage as I rushed forward, magic coursing through my veins, boosting my strength and speed, crackling in the air around me as I moved, enshrouding me in the form of a blue halo.

She parried my advances but I managed to surprise her by my newfound strength as the look of glee on her face transformed into one of pure hate and loathing. I allowed myself a satisfied smirk as Ginryuu slashed on her forearm and the wound did not heal from her tainted magic. Now that I noticed, the place where Sakura had stabbed her through the stomach still bled as well.

Before now, her wounds had always knitted themselves back together but something must have gone wrong for her. I knew I couldn't let this advantage go to waste. This might be the perfect time to destroy her once and for all. After all Sakura and Kurogane didn't have much time left.

I had cast a blood replenishing spell on Sakura so that she wouldn't bleed to death since I couldn't exactly heal her myself. I just had to keep her stable long enough to get her to a healer or a doctor or something. I had already cast numerous protection spells on Kurogane's soul to save him from disappearing like Masooma had. He would not suffer the same fate. I would not _let_ him suffer like that.

Akira would die today.

She would die right now!

I swung my blade once more, almost landing a hit but she dodged sideways the last second. I aimed another blow but she parried, bringing both blades together to stop mine. She was burning up with anger but her strokes were still calculated and precise albeit a little bit unpredictable and wild.

She tried to push back but I twisted my sword so that our blades were locked together. We were both almost equally matched in strength. I sensed energy building up inside her body, ripples of power stirring.

"How dare you oppose me!" she shrieked, her dark eyes glazed over as the cuts kept on bleeding. Electricity crackled in the air around her and I broke away just in time to avoid getting hit by a bolt of lightning. She cast another spell and a second bolt zoomed through the air towards me. I didn't even need to call upon my magic to defend me this time seeing as my aura sensed the danger and erected a shield on its own. A grim chuckle escaped my throat at her enraged snarl as she rushed towards me.

Her twin blades flashed, nearly making me lose my left arm but thankfully vampire speed helped me out. Her injuries still remained unable to heal and I could tell that somehow, she was tiring out. Well more than me at least.

I could sense it in the flagging pace of her blows, her parried parries were slower and she could barely avoid my strikes. I even managed to nick her right shoulder which only seemed to anger her more.

"This is my magic now!" she screeched, making me wonder just what the hell was she going on about. It was like she wasn't even talking to me anymore.

I hung back, observing her as she snarled and spat like a mad animal, talking to thin air. I sent out another fraction of my magic to help out Kurogane and Sakura, all the while waiting for Akira to make a mistake.

"He can't hold out forever!" she roared as her aura began to change a bit: the deep crimson part of it, which was stolen from one of my precious persons, began dominating over her own tainted magic.

My eyes widened in surprise as I noticed this change.

What was the meaning of this? How could Akira be losing control over her own magic? Was her mind that deteriorated that it could not even keep a hold on the power under its command?

A second aura began making its dominance known over hers as well, this time it's color a light warm shade of brown. This change surprised me just as much as the first one had.

H-how?

-0-

Syaoran was thrashing wildly against the chains from which he hung, my own pained screams were echoing in my ears however the world around me was filled with nothing but darkness, yet I could see Syaoran just fine. I had realized some time ago that I was in his memories that the witch had no doubt extracted from him before she…

He was pleading to the witch now. Pleading to to let me go, me, who wasn't even here.

Begging to spare the life of someone who had let him down. Who had let him die at the hands of that miserable witch.

A sob tore through my throat as I felt warm blood continue to flow from my open wounds. That bitch had cast a spell to hold me in place. My shoulder and abdomen were both alive with pain from my earlier struggles yet I was still frozen in place, unable to move, only observe silently as Syaoran's memories of his captivity were played out before me, from the very start.

I felt his emotions, his pain, his fears, his hopelessness, his desperation and in the end his defeat as he heard me die. I felt the will to live leave him as he allowed the witch to strip him of the only thing that was keeping him alive.

Then his world shattered, all thoughts, emotions, memories, sounds, voices, everything gone, leaving behind nothing but emptiness. There wasn't even a speck of light in this place.

-0-

In a moment of true desperation, the witch and crazy bitch lunged at me, thrusting her blades at my heart. I dodged with ease, swatting her right blade with the flat of my own while ducking under her left one with even less effort. She stumbled a bit, leaving her entire right side vulnerable to me.

This was the chance I had been waiting for. Without a second thought, I swung my sword in the beginning of a deadly arc. She regained her composure a bit earlier than I had anticipated, however she still could not avoid all of my attack, since she now sported a deep bleeding gash in side.

I grinned in satisfaction; the bitch deserved this and so much more.

"NO!" she shrieked. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MEMORY!"

I halted in my attack, watching her twitching form in confusion._ Nothing but a memory? _

The two stolen auras were flaring now, battling wildly against her tainted magic as bits and pieces of it crumbled beneath their combined might.

What was going on? It was almost as if…

But no, it couldn't be possible… could it?

"I WILL STILL DESTROY YOUR MAGE!" Akira yelled as her magic blazed all of a sudden, shooting concentrated ribbons of deadly spells towards its target.

My eyes widened in fear as my own magic tried to erect a shield to block it but I was too late.

Again.

The magic hit its mark and a pained cry closely followed by the thud of a body hitting ground reached my ears.

I hadn't been aware of moving before my sword had pierced through that bitch's heart, her dark eyes glazing over as she struggled to draw breaths. I pulled my sword back, not even watching as she coughed up blood before collapsing on the ground, choking on her own blood as it made a pool around her prone form.

I was already by Sakura's side, tears streaming down my face as I cradled her frail body in my arms.

"Too… late… mage…" I heard Akira cackle weakly, "I…w-win…" before she could utter another word, my magic had blasted her face. At the same time Kurogane roared and charged at her, the satisfying sound of his fist meeting her flesh distantly reaching my ears. Everything slowed down all of sudden as I focused on my magic to heal her.

I had to do this. I couldn't let her leave me too.

Not Sakura too. She had to stay with me.

She just had to…

My azure aura filled up two gashes in her body before moving on to fill up the deep gouge-like mark Akira's last spell had left behind. For a minute, it seemed like I had finally managed to make it work.

I could save her! My heart fluttered with relief as I focused on the spells that I had memorized countless times, praying to all those gods out there to make it work for my magic this time. Just once. Please, let it work, if only for this time. I don't want to lose her too.

But when had my prayer ever been answered.

"No." I wailed and sobbed and choked at the same time as the wounds reopened, bleeding profusely, her weak pulse flickering unsteadily beneath my touch. "P-please Sakura-chan…" I begged her, once again focusing on the useless task of healing her through my magic. "Don't do this to me too."

Her only response was an unsteady intake of breath.

-0-

There was an explosion of pain. I felt it hit me in the back before it spread all over my body, eating away at me like acid. I cried out, writhing weakly as it intensified. I couldn't breathe. Oh God! It hurt so much.

I was falling… falling… the world was blurring around me as sounds reached my ears. My senses were a jumbled mess, a haze of pain and sound and colors. I could feel the energy leave my body as blood flew freely from my wounds.

Something warm filled me up for a fraction of a second, dulling the pain, almost healing me but then it was gone, leaving behind nothing but the pain..

Was this how Syaoran felt, I wondered weakly as my brain started to shut down.

-0-

"Oye mage! Don't do anything stupid." I heard Kurogane's anxious voice growl a warning as I set my jaw and took in a deep breath. There was only one thing I could do now.

I closed my eyes and let go. Let go off all the magic that clung to me.

"Don't leave," I whispered into her ear as I divided it into thee portions. One part, slightly larger, I guided into Sakura's body while the other two parts I sent shooting at Kurogane.

"Find Syaoran-kun and pass half of it on to him," I instructed as I focused my attention back to Sakura. Her magic was opposing mine so I had to force it in; this was the only way left.

"What are you doing you dumb mage?"

"Keeping my promises." I answered simply before letting the smallest part of magic left behind in my body get to work, casting the necessary spells.

I felt my runes wrap themselves around Syaoran's cold body, encircle Kurogane's ghostly form and spin around me and Sakura. I felt the metallic taste of my blood in my mouth and soon enough I began coughing it up as I forcefully used my remaining magic to cast a strong enough transportation spell.

"Idiot, don't kill yourself." Kurogane snarled.

"I'm trying to save Sakura here Kurgz, keep it down." Rainbow colored smoke began appearing all around us.

-0-

Something foreign was forcing its way into my body.

Magic. It was magic, my half-dead brain concluded with some difficulty after a while.

Fai's magic.

What… What was he doing?

I felt it pull me back into my body.

"Don't leave…" I heard his distant voice beg as more of his magic entered my system.

I found it harder to hold on to reality but then I felt someone was with me. Someone who was always there for me and made me feel safe and loved at the same time. It was the feeling that permeated the castle air whenever Syaoran was around.

_Sakura._

Hearing his voice whisper my name I turned slowly, a smile threatening to break out on my face as tears spilled down my cheeks.

_Syaoran…_

-0-

I focused on our destination as the transportation spell activated. Another fit of coughing made me double over, blood dribbling down my chin as dark spots danced merrily in my vision.

"Oye! Idiot! Don't force yourself." Kurogane's voice managed to break through but I paid it no mind. There were so many things that I needed to explain to him and Sakura but there wasn't much time for the latter. If I hadn't done what I had been doing just then, I would have lost her too and honestly I don't think I would have the will power to keep on living if she died.

The wisps of multicolored smoke began to dissolve our bodies, initiating our transportation to the city's central hospital. Sakura needed professional assistance, seeing as my magic could help her only so far. I had already used up more than half of my magic in my fight against Akira when I had let it boost my powers by releasing it and then I had given two thirds of my magic to Kurogane because the amount of magic needed to assist a soul to cross over was quite large and since Kurogane wasn't the only soul that needed assistance crossing over…

I knew that Syaoran was still stuck in this realm too. After all Akira always drained her victim off their spiritual energy and without that energy, they were stranded in the world of the living. Just like Masooma and Kurogane, Syaoran was no exception to this case as well.

My suspicions of him still being here were confirmed when that second aura had flared up to fight Akira. Syaoran was still here. And he needed help.

The spell that I had performed to stabilize Sakura enough for transportation was something that was forbidden for use since it involved transferring all save for a very minute amount of the caster's magic into the other person's body to save their life. I wasn't going to have any for myself either way so I had decided to help out all three of them since I was about to die anyway.

Well, under normal circumstances I might just have ended up in a coma or something till my magic recovered but now I had used up the very last bits of it to transport us all to the hospital. As the dark crumbling cell and Akira's lifeless body was replaced by a sterile white hallway and bright fluorescent lights, I felt a wave of dizziness crash over me, seconds later I was lying on the floor, looking up at the spinning ceiling as hurried footsteps approached us.

I saw a pair of worried amber-colored eyes before I was swallowed by darkness.

_**A/N: So how was it people? Akira is finally dead but she still managed to do quite a lot of damage. Will Sakura survive? What about Fai? And let's not forget Kurogane. **_

_**Tell me what you think.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	23. Chapter 22

_**A/N: And just as promised, an update for my faithful readers.**_

_**Enjoy.**_

The transportation spell ended and we emerged in a brightly lit hallway. A woman around the age of twenty six or something saw us appear and rushed over to us, stopping a few feet away from us, gaping at the four of us.

A dull thud sounded to my right and I looked there only to find that the mage had collapsed. His eyes were closed and there was blood trickling out of his mouth. His skin was almost as white as a ghost's and his breathing was oddly shallow. Next to him Sakura was in no better condition.

Our sudden arrival had probably alerted a few other people seeing as around four more women and a young man hurried in our direction.

"Oh shit," the man breathed as he looked at the scene before him.

"Mike, stabilize the girl, Maria get over to the boy, Alina, Ross, help them," she snapped at the newcomers, "Brit, go get a healer, now." She ordered urgently, moving towards Fai, a pale purple aura surrounding her hands a she dropped to her knees next to him.

"The boy is dead," the woman named Maria said in an even, emotionless tone.

"These two are not," the woman who was hovering her hands over the idiot's chest said without looking up, "so find a healer, Ross come help me with this one."

None of them had so much as even glanced at me so either they couldn't see me or I was no longer strong enough to retain a corporeal form. I was feeling too numb to actually care which of these reasons were true. I was far too worried about the two prone forms on the ground.

I watched in silence as the amber-eyed woman worked on the blond idiot, pouring out some of her magic, which now that I watched more closely was not pale purple but a light shade of crimson. It was the same color as the streaks in her hair which had been pulled back in a ponytail behind her head. From the uniform that she was wearing I could tell that she was a healer. I had followed the mage and the others to a hospital once before, shortly after my death, so I knew what they wore. The other four present were nurses, along with the one who had left to fetch a healer.

Not an instant later, a pink-haired woman with bright emerald-colored eyes appeared alongside Maria and Brit. She was a healer too, I could tell from the white lab coat she wore with the pale green shirt underneath it.

"What's her status Mike?" she questioned, quickly crouching next to the unconscious princess.

"Multiple stab wounds, a head injury and a cursed wound that has eaten away majority of the flesh on her back."

"Damn!" the pink-haired healer cursed. "Move her onto a gurney and bring her to the ER. I can't work on her in a corridor."

"Him too." The amber-eyed healer said as she removed her hands from the mage's body. The nurses snapped into action, quickly loading the two into the stretchers before zooming down the corridor, the healers racing alongside. "Brit, Alina, you deal with the boy." her gaze flicked in my direction for a fraction of a second but it was so quick I thought I must have imagined it. I ran after them, watching silently with bated breath as the healers worked on them.

After several long hours of pacing outside the corridor those two had been taken into, the amber-eyed healer emerged from the double doors. She made no indication of having seen me as she walked past me, stopping a couple of steps away.

"You're a ghost." She stated simply as though it was an everyday occurrence for her to see dead people walking around. Which wasn't much of an impossibility considering the princess could do the same.

"Guess you can see me after all." I answered dryly, finding it very difficult to keep the worry out of my tone. I waited a couple of seconds for her to say something else but she was looking elsewhere with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Your magician friend is suffering from acute magical drain and the girl was hit by a very potent curse. We've tried our best to stabilize their conditions but we're not sure if they can make it through the night." She said, directing her sympathetic gaze at me.

My fists clenched subconsciously. "Damn it!" I growled, punching the wall in anger. "I'm gonna f**kin' kill him if he dies." I hit it again with a resounding thwack. I froze in shock, watching my fist and the considerable sized dent that it had created. "What the…" I blinked a couple of times before realizing what had happened.

_Fi__nd Syaoran and give half of this to him._ Fai's words as he had given me his magic rang in my ears.

"It would be better if you keep the noise level down Mr. Ghost." The healer stated in an irritated tone, "This is a hospital and there is an ICU on the other side of the wall you just hit."

I sighed before slumping on the ground. My afterlife was so f**ked up.

"I saw you arrive with them." she said quietly as she sat down next to me. "What happened to them? And the boy..." she trailed off as she looked down to her hands clasped in her lap.

"A bitch did that to them for revenge." I answered shortly. "She's dead now." I added, leaning my head against the wall, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"You have unusual amount of magic for a ghost," she said quietly after a while, making me look at her only to find that she was observing me closely.

"It belongs to the mage," I answered, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the wall.

"Normally we don't allow visitors to the patients into the ICU," she told me gently after some time, "but since you're a ghost, I guess you can go see them if you want." I cracked an eye open to see that she was already on her feet and moving through a pair of double doors which led to a different corridor. After having lived for more than a year in this place, I had learnt quite a lot of this world's language so I knew that the door on the right of this new corridor was the operation theatre while the one on the left lead to the ICUs.

I followed her quietly as she led me down several rows of doors to the very back.

"The girl is in this room and the magician is the next one." She pointed at the two adjoining doors.

I peeked through the glass pane in the door to the room in which she said Sakura was being kept. The princess's nose and mouth were covered in a mask of some sort, her breath fogging its glass surface from the inside. There were many wires sticking out of her body, all of them leading to the strange looking machines next to her bed. A slow beeping sound, accompanied by a several squiggly lines on a screen indicated that she was still alive. A couple of drips were injecting vital fluids into her body, one of which was blood.

Her skin was paler than the sheets beneath her, her closed eyes had dark circles beneath them and her small chest heaved with effort as she drew in lungful after lungful of air. The kid would have been heartbroken to see her like this. This was the first thought that ran through my head when I took in her current state. Even the other princess had not been in such a bad condition when she had arrived at the witch's shop, and she had been dying herself.

Unable to make myself enter her room, I turned away, stepping inside the mage's room, without even looking at him. I stopped next to his bedside, finally raising my head to look at him. His eyes were closed and his expression peaceful. If it wasn't for the pair of transparent plastic tubes coming out of his nose, I would have thought he was sleeping. Wires similar to the ones attached to the princess were also sticking out from under his clothes, leading to the life support system he was on.

"You f**king idiot!" I hissed, narrowing my eyes, hating the feeling of helplessness that crushed my heart as I watched him lie there. "Why do you always have to be so damn selfish? Who's gonna look after the princess if you die, huh…? I can't stay here forever, that bitch made sure that the kid can't do it since he's dead! Are you gonna leave her too…? You self-centered bastard, didn't you think about her even once?!"

His only response was the rising of his chest as the machine next to him compressed itself and pushed air into his lungs. "If you weren't so close to dying already, I would have probably pounded you in the face for all of this…"

Once again I got no response from the normally hyperactive magician. "Damn it Fai!" I snarled in a whispered voice, "don't you dare leave her too… Don't you f**kin' try to die or I'll bring you back to life and kill you myself… A thousand times over… You hear me… I'll kill you if you die too." I opened my mouth to speak again but the wailing monitors in the next room caught my attention.

"Sakura…" my eyes widened in shock and fear as I sensed a second presence in her room.

-0-

_I was running. Tripping on my feet as they were getting caught in the roots of the trees hidden beneath the layer of white which covered everything miles around. But no matter what, I couldn__'__t stop. I had to get there. I had to._

_The looming ruins of a crumbling castle appeared before me, but even though I ran like the hounds of hell were chasing after me, it never got any closer. It was as though the earth itself was stretching out to keep me away from my destination._

_There was a flash of light and I found out that I was no longer outside in the snow nor was I running. Instead, I was on the ground in a dimly lit dungeon, cradling an unmoving body to my chest as blood pooled around me. _

_Another flash of light and the body was behind me, blue runes danced in the air all around me while Akira__'__s laughter rang in the air. Wisps of her dark shimmering magic were eating away the soul of one of my most precious persons. The twirling characters battled with the smoky entrails but I was too late, helplessly watching as the soul was destroyed completely._

_[With] a flash of light and I was walking down a street, laughing and joking with a young brown-haired boy and an auburn-haired girl. A white rabbit-like creature with a bright red jewel on its head was perched on my shoulder. We stopped walking when we saw a crowd near an alleyway with an ambulance and police cruiser parked there._

_Curious, me and the teens headed over only to find our precious friend dead on the ground in the form of an unmoving corpse, blood having pooled around his form and already half dried. He had been dead for quite some time._

_One more flash and I was once again in a dank dungeon, this one slightly different from the last but once again, one of my loved people was dead, lying in a pool of their own blood. _

_Flash and I was holding onto my last precious person, mortally wounded with injuries that I could never heal. Her glazed-over jade eyes were the last thing I saw before everything was enshrouded in darkness._

_**They**__**'**__**re all dead.**__ I heard myself say. __**And it**__**'**__**s all your fault.**__ My voice breathed in my ear. I whirled around but no one was there._

_**Face it Yuui,**__ The voice spoke from behind me. __**You killed them all.**_

No_, I breathed. _Akira killed them.

_**And who led Akira to them? **__My voice asked cruelly._

I-it wasn't my fault…

_**Then whose fault was it?**_

_I remained silent._

_**Tell me Yuui, whose fault was it? You**__**'**__**re the reason Fai died. You**__**'**__**re the reason Ashura went mad. You**__**'**__**re the reason Akira killed Masooma and then Kurogane. Then she went after Syaoran and finally she killed the princess. How can you keep on living with so much blood on your hands?**_

Sh-shut up…

_**Why should I? **__The face that materialized before me was my own. The only difference was that his eyes were pitch black and there were splotches of blood on his skin, blood that was not his own as smooth skin was still visible underneath. __**Answer me Yuui? Why are you still alive? None of them deserved to die and yet they all did but you? **_

N-no, go away. I-I didn't kill them… Leave me alone!

_**Make me, **__My copy smirked. __**Fai D Flourite**__**…**__** You should be dead. You killed them all. Every single one of them died because of you.**_

Go away…_ I said in a weak voice, _I didn't kill them… I didn't… kill them…

-0-

Blearily, I opened my eyes. The first thing that greeted me was a white light which was far too bright. Instantaneously I screwed them shut again, wondering if I was dead and this was the afterworld. My body felt weightless; there was almost no feeling in my limbs, like they were not even there. A soft beeping sound and the presence of an almost insubstantial weight on my wrist told me otherwise.

I drew in a shuddering breath and realized with a jolt that the air smelled too sterile and medicated to belong to the afterworld, if there was air there in the first place. Slowly, I reopened my eyes, taking my time to let them adjust to the brightness. A dull ache in my right shoulder made its presence known, confirming my suspicions that I was indeed alive.

I was still alive. Strangely, I felt no joy to know that just as I felt no sorrow. I felt nothing except emptiness. No emotions at all.

Just an aching hollow which felt so… vacant...

Slowly, I tried to push myself into a sitting position to get my bearings. Where was I? And where was Fai-san? Was he alright?

I lifted my head off the pillow but a wave of dizziness sent me crashing back down. I was fully awake by now but I felt as though my head was filled with thick wads of cotton and I had difficulty focusing on anything.

_Sakura_? That voice cut through the haze of confusion and weakness that had swallowed me whole. My heart stopped beating the minute I heard my name uttered as my thoughts reeled.

Could it be? How was it even possible? He couldn't be here.

That witch Akira had made sure of that. He had died in my arms, so then how…

Was I dreaming?

_You're alright. _His voice sounded relieved as I felt the weight lift from my wrist. No, his voice sounded far too real to be a dream. But if this wasn't a dream then was all of what had happened before been one?

Before I could ponder anymore on the possibility of what was a dream and what was the reality, something soft was pressed against my lips. It was comforting and warm yet cold at the same time. His sweet earthen scent filled my nostrils, making my heart flutter beneath my ribcage as my eyes closed of their own accord. I felt his fingers lightly rake through my hair as he gently moved his lips against mine. I found losing myself in that blissful sensation, forgetting all the fears and worries that had assaulted me the minute I had woken up.

But it all ended all too soon for my liking as the feeling and that soft touch vanished. I was afraid to open my eyes as my heart clenched painfully, telling me that it was too good to be true. That when I looked, no one will be there. But the kiss had felt so real.

I couldn't have imagined it. But then, why were the only sounds that I heard in the room no more than the constant beeping and my own breathing. Why was there no rustle of clothes? Why was there no one else breathing in this room except for me?

_Sakura,_ he whispered in my ear but I did not feel his breath ghost my skin like it should have. So it wasn't a dream?

Tears streamed down my face from my closed eyes, wetting the pillow beneath my head but I paid that no mind. My emotions were in wild disarray. So many feeling rushing in all at once, I no longer knew what to feel so I let the tears fall.

_Hey__! What's wrong?_ He sounded so alarmed but I still could not bring myself to open my eyes. What if I couldn't see him? What if I opened my eyes and he wasn't there? What if… _Sakura._ He sounded panicked now. The beeping sound in the room was sharper and coming in much shorter intervals.

_Sakura_… his voice faded away just as the beeping grew distant. I tried opening my eyes, alarmed at the sudden drop in noise level in the room, everything sounded so far away.

Something dully pricked my arm, my body lacking the energy to even twitch as everything dissolved into a black haze.

-0-

_**A/N: Hmm, so Fai's having nightmares, Sakura is hallucinating and still in danger of dying, Kurogane is helpless and Syaoran… wonder what will happen next? ;)**_

_**Can anyone guess the identities of the two doctors? Cookies for anyone who can. **_

_**Oh and before you go.**_

_**Review!**_

_**Ja ne.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	24. Chapter 23

_**A/N: I'm back with the next chapter people.**_

_**The identities of the two doctors are Sakura from Naruto and Masooma. Here's a whole lot of cookies for all those who managed to get it right. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

I didn't kill them…_ I was repeating the words in my head over and over again, hoping that maybe somehow this will all go away. But my voice in my head kept telling me otherwise, soon being joined in by the voices of all the ones I had once held dear. Every single one of them was agreeing with my other voice, after a while making me believe the truth._

_It really _was_ my fault. A sob tore through my throat as I sunk to the dark yet colorless ground which seemed to be made out of nothing at all._

_My own mind voiced the question my other voice had raised a while back. Why was I still alive? There was nothing left to live for so then why was I still here? Why was I not being burnt in the deepest pits of hell for taking the lives of so many innocent people?_

_Their voices were still shouting at me for letting them die when I could have saved them._

I'm sorry…_ I apologized but the voices were not pacified. _I'm sorry…

_**What for?**__ A curious voice questioned, making me stiffen as all other voices vanished. I had not heard that voice for so long. I kept my eyes facing the ground as I answered. _For letting you and everyone else die when I could have saved you.

_I heard the pitter patter of a pair of light feet move my way, stopping a couple of feet behind me._

_**Do you really believe that it**__**'**__**s your fault?**__ She asked in a soft whisper._

Yes, _I replied, still not looking up as a pair of legs became visible in the corner of my vision as she stepped closer. Afraid to raise my head to find a hollow, gaunt face with lifeless eyes stare back at me, I still kept staring at my feet._

_**Oh Fai**__**…**__ I was enveloped in a warm embrace. My whole body stiffened at the contact. _

_It__…__ It couldn__'__t be__…__ I had seen her vanish. Akira__'__s spell had erased her from existence. But this__…__?_

_This felt far too real to be made up._

H-how…

_**I never once blamed you, you know.**__ She told me, the melancholic smile could be heard in her tone. _

I-I saw her kill your soul, _I said as my muscles relaxed at the comfort being offered. _I thought… I thought that you were gone forever.

_**Akira lied,**__ she answered as she pulled away, taking my hand and pulling me along as she started to walk. I remembered all the times she used to do this back in Celes.__** Nothing can destroy a soul. **__She said, her tone changing to one of teasing, __**I thought you knew that.**_

But your presence vanished.

_**Because I was trapped in her mind. **__She led me up a sloping hill covered with snow. Why had I not noticed the change in scenery? I finally raised my head to look around, only to be stunned._

_There was snow all around us as far as the eye could see, but a forest of tall trees was visible in the distance. The sky overhead was a clear blue with white wispy clouds and a warm glowing sun. I looked to my right and saw an ancient Chinal tree standing proudly with its pale, bluish leaves and black leathery bark. Beautiful lavender-colored flowers blossomed on its branches with petals slightly larger than an average Sakura but somewhat similar in shape._

_**You used to bring me here, remember? **__I finally turned my head to look at my apprentice and my mouth hung open at what I saw. _

_Before me was not the bruised and burnt face of the girl I had failed to save but the smiling, unmarred face of Masooma. Her eyes were not dull and lifeless; rather, they were sparkling like a pair of gems, full of life and laughter._

_**You should see the look on your face.**__ She laughed just the way I remembered._

I'm sorry._ I looked away, guilt crashing over me once again as my own cold voice reminded me of how I had failed her._

_**Ugh! **__She stomped her foot in anger. __**Say that one more time and I swear I am going to hit you, Fai.**_

But- _Wham!_

_**I said I would hit you.**__ Masooma giggled as she lowered her fist. __**I don**__**'**__**t know why you like to make me repeat myself. **__She sighed, reaching out to cup my cheek and locking her fierce amber-eyed gaze with mine, __**I don**__**'**__**t blame you Fai. It wasn**__**'**__**t your fault.**_

You _died_, Masooma._I looked away, choosing instead to stare at the snow-covered forest. _Kurogane _died. _Syaoran _died._ And Sakura… I don't even know what became of her. You were all hurt because of me. That bitch _killed_ you guys because of me! How is it not my fault?! You had nothing to do with her and she stilled killed you all! Just to get to _ME! _How can you say I am not to blame?

_**Because Akira was crazy. **__She answered simply._

Wow,_ I gave a bitter laugh,_ after losing all of my friends you'd think I would have noticed that.

_**Then why do you insist on taking the blame? **__Masooma__'__s tone was lighthearted once again._

You're still just as stubborn as I remember.

_**Look who**__**'**__**s talking. **__She smiled, flopping down on the snow, leaning against the trunk of the tree as she picked up a fallen blossom. Her thin fingers were playing with the petals as she looked up at me, silently asking me to sit down beside her. __**I**__**'**__**ve spent so many years trapped in that witch**__**'**__**s mind, constantly listening to her trying to convince me that you**__**'**__**re the reason I died. But you know what? **__She plucked a petal free from the blossom, staring at it intently as I settle down next to her. __**I never once believed her. Because I knew you did everything you could to try and save me. Your healing spell, the one that you had cast when you had found me, it was the only thing that kept me from losing myself in Akira**__**'**__**s mental captivity while every other witch or wizard that she drained wound up perishing.**_

_**I**__**'**__**m still me thanks to you. **__Her soft-brown eyes looked up once more. __**How can I blame you for that?**_

_The grip that guilt had on me loosened at the sight of her grateful smile._

_**And I**__**'**__**m pretty sure your friends would never hold you responsible either.**_

-0-

_The place where I was was one huge contradiction. It was not pitch black but there was no light there either. There was no sound here but it was not deathly silent. I felt like I was floating and standing and lying down at the same time. The thing that surrounded me was harder than concrete yet softer than velvet, and it was burning hot yet freezing cold. _

_It was__…__ disorientating._

_I could not remember who I was, only that I existed. I had no idea where I was but I knew I had to go somewhere._

_It felt as though I was wading through some thick gooey thing to reach my destination. Or was I gliding through it? Maybe I was just running on it. It was so confusing yet there was this sense of urgency in me. This burning need to go someplace._

_A place that was beckoning me towards it. Wordlessly calling me, beckoning me, summoning me..._

_I wanted to just go there. _

_But something held me back. It was preventing me from reaching my goal. I tried to wrench myself free of the restraints. I had to get there. I needed to go there. Wonders awaited me._

_With a great deal of effort, I managed to break away from whatever had been restraining me. I was now zooming towards this place, moving faster than I ever had before._

_But then a sharp jolting pain shot through my chest, tugging me back._

No!_ I felt like crying out. I was so close. So close. I was almost there. Why was I being pulled in the other direction? I didn__'__t want to go back._

_Another jolt and I felt myself move even farther away from the place I had so desperately wanted to go to._

Hold on._ A faint voice whispered in my ear as I was dragged away, _Hold on Sakura.

_Sakura__…_

_Did that name belong to me? Was that who I was? _

_I still could not remember. All I knew was that I did not want to go back. That place was wordlessly telling me that I would not like what awaited me there if I went back. It asked me to come to it instead, where everything would always be alright._

Please don't die... _that voice. It was so familiar. Who did it belong to? I knew that person. Who was it? _You have to live…

_Live?_

…

_Why? That mysterious place questioned, summoning me once more. Without a second thought, I obeyed, following the direction of that soundless call._

Because you can't leave him like everyone else._ This voice was new. I had never heard it before. But what it had said__…__ Was there someone depending on me?_

Yes! _Another jolt of pain, sharper than before attacked my heart, forcefully halting me, just when both those voices yelled. A wind picked up around me, lights beginning to flash through my vision. Sounds__…__ I could hear sounds. They were frantic. Worried._

_The call of my unknown destination began to fade from my mind, the sense of urgency to get there leaving me._

You can't just give up like that._ The familiar voice told me. _You're stronger than that so please, you have to stay alive.

_The wind had reached an almost gale like velocity, its strong force pushing, whipping everything around me._

Live…_ the voice told me gently. _You have to live.

_I had to live__…_

_The frantic voices continued to assault my ears, growing louder and louder, the lights getting brighter. I was tumbling through a void, a strange tunnel, where everything was mixed up. It overwhelmed me, making me feel like I would explode. But just when I reached my breaking point everything just sort of went away._

-0-

_I looked at the girl sitting beside me with a horrified expression._

Y-you were trapped inside her all this time?

_**Sort of. **__She shrugged carelessly.__** According to the spell Akira had performed, I was supposed to just become a part of her, you know, sort of exist but cease to exist at the same time. It drove her crazy. Not that she wasn**__**'**__**t crazy in the first place but she got crazier than before.**_

_**But, **__she fell silent as her expression grew solemn. She rubbed the flower petal in between her fingers, feeling it__'__s texture as her eyes grew distant,__** then she came up with some sort of binding spell. I just sort of faded away to the back of her mind. I was still there, mind you, just**__**…**__** no longer aware of what was going on. Time lost its meaning and then, **__she looked at me, a small smile forming on her face,__** before I knew it, I was seeing you attack her beyond the barrier as she tried to kill your friend.**_

_I lowered my head in shame. I had put her through so much suffering, just like the others._

_**Fai, if you**__**'**__**re blaming yourself for this again, I swear I am going to cross over right now. And I won**__**'**__**t even come back to talk to you again.**_

Cross over? _I blinked in shock, making her laugh lightly._

_**I can**__**'**__**t hang around here forever you know. I**__**'**__**m free now. I can move on.**_

Oh. _I guess she caught the disappointment in my tone because the next second I was once again enveloped in her comforting hug._

_**Thanks for everything Fai. **__She tightened her hold around me as she buried her head into the crook of my neck. I inhaled deeply, breathing in her familiar scent of orange blossoms and snow, perhaps for the last time._

You're welcome Masooma. _I whispered, returning her embrace. We stayed like that for a while before she let go, a grin forming on her lips as she brushed her fingers on top of my head._

_**Even in the dream world, the petals are attracted to your hair. **__I looked at her in confusion before I remembered how she used to laugh at me for the very same reason back in Celes. It was really strange but the petals of Chinal blossoms always landed on my head, covering my hair in a layer of pale purple._

_I shook my head a couple of times, making the petals rain to the ground in a beautiful shower of lilac. The snow glinted in the light of the sun overhead as they landed on top of it._

_**I must say though, you**__**'**__**re little friend, Syaoran, is quite an amazing boy.**_

You've met him?

_**Well, I wasn**__**'**__**t the only one Akira managed to absorb into herself. She was trying to do the same to that ninja, Kurogane I think his name was but I started resisting her, stopping her from using my magic to heal or empower herself. I might not have been able to do it alone but then suddenly I felt him by my side. And believe me when I say this, he fought against her more furiously than I could have thought humanly possible.**_

_**He**__**'**__**s got one hell of a determination.**_

That's Syaoran-kun for you. _I chuckled lightly, feeling relieved to know that he was okay. Sort of. _Where is he now?

_**Where do you think?**__ She gave me a lopsided grin as her eyes sparkled with hidden laughter._

-0-

_**A/N: Syaoran is still around but what will become of Sakura? Fai's guilt is finally being reduced but will he be able to wake up from this dream? And what about Kurogane who was completely absent this time? All this and a lot more will be answered next time. **_

_**I'll try my level best to put up the next chapter this coming Monday but it might get delayed a week or so due to my upcoming exams. Wish me luck guys.**_

_**And DO NOT forget to review! ;)**_

_**Ciao.**_


	25. Chapter 24

_**A/N: I apologize for the really long wait but I'm pretty sure you guys can understand real life problems. Anyhow, I **_**have**_** updated quite a lot of my long forgotten fics over the weekend including "What the hell?". Go check it out after you're done reading this chapter, k? And I expect reviews, for both. Lots and lots of reviews. ;)**_

_**Now without further ado, I give you chapter 24.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

Today was the third day since the mage had teleported us to the hospital. I saw that amber-eyed doctor walk towards the princess's room from the glass pane in the doorway. Casting a glance in the motionless mage's direction, I followed her into the hallway. Some color had returned to Sakura's face, and although her skin was not exactly the usual rosy shade, it was no longer the previous ghostly pale either. The doctor acknowledged my presence with a single nod before returning her attention to the patient, checking the reading on the machines and her charts.

She filled up a syringe with some medicine before injecting it into one of her IV bags. After a few more minutes in which she checked over her injuries and dressings, the doctor finally looked up.

"Her condition is stable," she announced with a somewhat reassuring smile. "And her wounds are healing nicely. There might be some scarring but she will be just fine. I have her on pain medication for now but I expect that she'll wake up in a few hours."

"She'll be just fine," I repeated, "now if only the other doctor would say the same for that idiot."

Slightly amused amber eyes met my gaze before returning to the princess's face.

-0-

Feeling returned to my body as I tried to open my eyes but my lids felt so heavy. Almost as if they had been covered with lead to weigh them down. My limbs ached but the pain was dull and somewhat distant.

Finally, after a lot of effort I managed to succeed in prying my eyes open. The first thing that greeted me when everything finally came into focus was a pair of smoldering, deep, amber orbs.

"Sya-oran?" I croaked weakly, my voice barely audible even to my own ears, yet he heard me anyway.

_Oh God. Sakura. _I felt a pair of arms envelop me in a tight embrace. My vision blurred once again, almost bordering on complete darkness, but my heart was racing with disbelief and joy.

He was here!

He was still alive!

I could feel his warmth surround me.

Syaoran was still alive!

"Syao-ran?" I repeated in my hoarse voice. I needed to hear his voice again. I needed him to tell me it was alright. That there was nothing to worry about. That I shouldn't be scared.

I reopened my eyes but this time I was met with the stark whiteness of the ceiling above my head.

"Syaoran?" I cried, my heart clenching with fear. I was alone. Where did he go? He was right here with me just a fraction of a second ago but…

W-Why wasn't he there?

He… He promised me he would always be with me.

So why…

Why wasn't he there?

"This isn't funny, Syaoran." I tried to shout but my words were just mumbled past my lips. "Where are you?"

…

"S-Syaoran, please." My voice broke down as tears streamed down the sides of my face, "Come back… Come back…"

But my only companion was the beeping monitor to my right.

Kurogane-san was gone.

Fai-san was not here either.

And Syaoran…

I was alone… alone…

"Liar!" I hissed, clenching my eyes shut as uncontrolled sobs tore through my throat. "You lied to me. You promised you wouldn't leave me. You said you'd come back to me."

No one answered me.

"You broke your promise!"

But no one apologized. And no one… No one came…

The hours drifted by, the passage of time indicated by the continuous beeping sound as I lay there in a trance-like state, hoping, waiting, anticipating the time when he would burst through the door, apologizing profusely for his lateness, reassuring me that he was never going to leave again.

My heart refused to accept the fact that he was gone. He couldn't just leave me like that. It wasn't like Syaoran. He would… He would come back.

Maybe he'll be there when I wake up, I thought sluggishly as sleep claimed me once more.

The next time I opened my eyes, amber-colored orbs peered down at me.

"You came." I sighed happily, thinking that maybe, maybe I had just dreamt him not being there. After all everything was just so confusing and my mind was still too hazy. Yeah. That was it. I had just dreamt of him dying in my arms. He was still with me. Syaoran wouldn't leave me like that.

He _couldn__'__t_ leave me like that.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" My breath hitched in my throat. _No! _The voice that asked this question did not belong to him. Where is he? I wanted to scream. Where is Syaoran? Why isn't he here?

"Who are you?" my mouth formed the words by itself.

"I'm your doctor, Masooma Aoi." The woman replied. I felt her warm hand take my wrist, her fingers wresting lightly on the inside of it as she looked at something in her other hand. After some time she let go, only to put something cold and metallic on my chest.

"Take a deep breath Sakura, then hold it in for a couple of second and exhale." She instructed me, moving the cold object all over my upper body.

Numbly, I found myself obeying her as she told me to inhale and then exhale several times.

"Do you feel any pain in shoulder? Or you back?" she asked kindly.

"No." My voice sounded hollow. I felt nothing. Everything was numb. My body was numb, my mind felt numb. There was no feeling anymore. Nothing at all. Except maybe… My heart. It burned with ache. The only thing that told me that I was real. I was still here while he…

He was gone.

Forever.

Dead.

No longer coming back.

Tears began streaming down my cheek as I choked on my sobs, weeping bitterly as the doctor looked at me with what could only be alarm on her face.

"Hey, hey, easy now. It'll be alright." She patted my head in a motherly manner.

_No it won__'__t. Nothing will ever be alright any more__…_

_Not with him gone__…_

"I'll handle it from here," a gruff voice told the doctor who obediently retracted her hand and left the room.

"K-Kurogane-san…" I cried unashamedly as I flung my arms around his neck and sobbed into his broad chest. Why?

Why did it have to be this way?

"Hang on princess," he murmured in a gentle tone, "hang on."

-0-

I held the princess in my ghostly arms that were once again solid enough to touch her.

Her broken sobs and shaking frame made me clench my jaw. So much pain. She was in so much pain. Oh God, why did it have to be the two of them?

That night when Sakura had almost died, I had rushed to her room only to stumble backwards in shock and phase out of the wall I had just phased through.

The kid was there! He was friggin' standing there!

I had phased back inside to see his image flicker and vanish but I could still sense his presence in the room. Sakura's vitals had dropped frighteningly, her heart coming to a halt after a few weak attempts of pumping blood.

The amber-eyed doctor, Masooma, had quickly administered some sort of treatment which involved placing two black pads on her chest are, one a little above the princess's heart and the other somewhere in the middle of the groove where her lowest ribs met.

Her whole body had lurched with shocks, but it wasn't of much use. The heart monitor was still emitting that annoying continuous beep. And then all of a sudden, as if by a miracle, the beep broke down to smaller beeps as the flat line once again changed to indicate the beating of her heart.

The kid's presence had weakened considerably when that had happened but his slightly transparent apparition had appeared by her bedside once more. Masooma had appeared startled by his sudden emergence but she had quickly overcome her astonishment, as she had overseen the rest of the princess's treatment.

Syaoran had not even acknowledged mine or anyone else's presence at that time. His honey-like amber orbs had fixated on the chalky face that belonged to the princess. His hand had been clutching onto Sakura's, so tightly that it had appeared as though he had been crushing it. But I had known he had been just scared of losing her.

I had watched the two for quite some time before returning to the unconscious mage's side, hoping he would show some improvement but that had been just my wishful thinking.

Syaoran had nodded his head in my direction when I had gone to see the princess the next day but he had not uttered a single word.

Even on the third day, which was today, he had still been holding on to her. I had been alarmed and quite worried when he had just flickered out of my senses for irregular intervals of time before once again just appearing by the princess's side. After my heated argument and his surrender, I had learnt that the brat had given her his spiritual energy to keep her alive, or rather keep her from crossing the gate to the next world when her heart had stopped.

But that had cost my student instead. He could only stay in this plane for a limited amount of time. His whole existence had begun to vanish as he had spent more and more time by Sakura's side.

He had been fighting that vanishing spell, magic, thing, whatever for the whole day. And just when the princess had woken up, his resistance had crumbled and he had vanished.

Sakura never saw him by her side. And I could not tell her about the kid or his sacrifice because it wasn't my place to say anything.

-0-

_**Fai,**__ Masooma looked at me, __**why are you still here?**_

Still where?_ I feigned ignorance despite the fact that I knew perfectly well what she meant._

_**You should go back,**__ she sighed, averting her gaze as she leaned against the tree trunk, __**they need you.**_

I'm a coward Masooma,_ I admitted quietly, _a selfish one at that.

_**No you**__**'**__**re not. **__ She shook her head._

I don't want to lose anyone, _I clenched and unclenched my fist, _you'll go away once I leave, _I opened my palm, catching a falling blossom, _and Kurogane and Syaoran will move on too when I go back. _I traced the soft petals with my finger, _I'm the only one keeping you all here…

_Masooma said nothing, waiting patiently for me to continue speaking._

Isn't it selfish of me to want to keep you all with me? Isn't it cowardly of me to not want to go back just so I don't lose you? Isn't it?

_**No, **__she answered, running a hand through her hair to push them out of her face, __**it**__**'**__**s perfectly human.**_

_She paused for a bit before giggling softly and looking back at me with a smile. __**Look at the two of us. Ashura-ou would have been so happy to see this day.**__ She added wistfully, __**His prodigal mage and the prodigal mage**__**'**__**s simply amazing apprentice are being serious for once.**_

_Despite myself, I joined in when she started laughing._

I don't doubt that.

_When our laughter died down, her expression grew somber once more._

_**Neither of us can stay here forever Fai, **__she laid her hand on the top of mine, __**you **_**have**_** to go back. The princess needs you. Same as Kurogane and Syaoran.**_

And what about you?

_**Well, you know me, **__she grinned cockily, __**I**__**'**__**m the best apprentice you ever had, I can handle anything.**_

More like the only apprentice I ever had. _I teased her lightly, just to lighten and ease what was most definitely goodbye for us._

_**Hey, I was the only one talented enough to pass your stupid tests. **__She protested with that amused twinkle in her eyes.__** Everyone else just got cold feet after the first task. **_

Actually you're the only one stupid enough to stick around for the second task.

_**Well, I still got the title of a C level before you did. **__She stuck her tongue out in the same childish manner that she always used when she got annoyed. __**So there.**__ I could see the tears forming in her eyes as she looked away but she wasn__'__t the only who had salt water ready to stream down her face._

But you were also the only one smart enough to keep up with what I dished out. _I blinked twice to clear my watery vision._

**You forgot to mention stubborn. **_She sniffled with a choked laugh._

Nah, _I shook my head, trying to keep my voice from quivering as I rubbed my right eye with my forefinger to stop the gathering water from spilling. _I'd put you under the category of resilient.

_**Is that supposed to be a compliment? **__She giggled as she wiped her face with her sleeves. _

You can take it as one.

_Masooma grinned at me through her tears. __**You**__**'**__**re crying.**_

So are you. _I countered. She buried her face in my neck as her arms wrapped around me._

_**Thank you,**__ I heard her whisper as the world around me began to dissolve in a gray haze, __**for everything. **_

_I could feel that I was beginning to wake. __**I expect not having to see you for a very, very long time.**_

_The darkness engulfed me as her presence vanished in a burst of bright light._

_She was truly gone._

_And I__…_

_I was returning to the land of the living._

-0-

I had cried myself to sleep and I didn't really expect anyone to be there when I woke up again. That cool yet warm thing on the top of my hand could be one of the numerous medical equipments used to treat patients.

This time, however, I was too afraid to open my eyes. It would be just like all those other times. Syaoran had left me. A part of me knew that he hadn't had a choice but I didn't listen to it. I wanted to be mad at him. I wanted to be angry at him. Because I didn't know if I could deal with him being gone in any other way. I just… I couldn't imagine a life in which he wasn't there by my side.

"You left me alone," I whispered to nothing but the air.

_No I didn__'__t. _I could hear him whisper back.

"Liar, you're not really there."

_Yes I am. _I felt that cool warmth move to my cheek.

"No you're not. I'll open my eyes and you'll be gone, just like every other time."

_I was never gone Sakura. _

"You're not real." I clenched my eyes shut as the warmth moved to my lids. This was just another hallucination brought about by my desperate mind.

_Sakura, _I bit my lip, this hallucination… It spoke my name just like him. But I knew it wasn't real. _Open your eyes Sakura._

"No." I shook my head.

_Why?_

"Because you're not going to be there."

Then a different yet similar cold yet warm thing pressed against my cheek. _I will be here._ He assured me as his lips moved to cover mine. The kiss was tender and sweet, just like him. Yet it was passionate at the same time. _Open your eyes._ I could feel the desperation that was behind it. _Please. I__'__ll be here._

Hesitantly, I cracked my lids apart, a tiny voice in my head telling me that I was fool to trust in those words. No one would be there. But I could ignore those pleas no longer.

_I__'__m still here Sakura._ He gave me a crooked smile while I blinked once, twice, three times till I found my voice.

"I-is that really you?" I asked uncertainly, afraid to say his name aloud. I was scared that this perfect mirage would shatter the minute I spoke his name.

_It is._ His earnest amber-eyes gaze at me intently.

"You're not going to leave me again, are you?" I held my breath as I awaited his answer.

_No._

"Swear it on your soul." I ordered instantaneously.

A strange emotion passed through his eyes but he nodded anyways.

_I swear I will never leave you Sakura._

Tears streamed down the sides of my face as I started weeping once again. "Oh Syaoran… Why did you have to die? Why?"

His ghostly arms enveloped me in a protective embrace as he whispered soothing words mixed with apologies.

-0-

_**A/N: So did you guys like it? Cuz I sure did but I'd like to hear your thoughts as well.**_

_**What do you think might happen next? Fai might be returning to the land of the living but is he ready to wake up? And what about Syaoran? Will he be able to keep his promise or fade away once again?**_


	26. Chapter 25

_**A/N: Only one more chapter to go. I'm kind of disappointed with the review count for the last two chapters. What happened guys? Is the story not good enough anymore? What's wrong? If it's got anything to do with the way I write or the direction everything seems to be heading, please feel free to let me know. **_

_**And now, I give you chapter 25.**_

_**Enjoy! **_

_**And don't forget to tell me how much you loved it or else… **_

He stayed by me the whole night and he was still there when I woke up the next morning. Holding my hand.

"You're still here." I smiled as I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of his cool yet warm fingers against my skin.

_I promised I would be, Sakura._ He answered.

Before I could say another word though, the door to my room opened and as I opened my eyes, Dr. Masooma's gentle face was the one I saw hovering next to my bed. And right next to her stood Syaoran.

"Good morning." She smiled at me, the slanting rays of sunlight pouring in through my window, falling on her hair made it shimmer like stars. "How are you feeling today?" she asked as she placed a thin glass tube in my mouth, a thermometer I remembered it was called.

"Good, you're fever is gone." She nodded, noting something down on the small writing pad she held in her hand, "but your dressings need to be changed. Syaoran, would you mind stepping outside for a while?" she asked him as she pressed a button next to my bed.

"No!" I immediately tightened my hold on his hand when he nodded and turned to leave.

"What's wrong Sakura?" the doctor asked me but it was Syaoran who I was staring at.

"Don't go." I cried frantically.

"This will only take ten minutes." Dr. Masooma assured me gently but I shook my head.

"No." I repeated myself, pushing myself up on weak limb as I tried to get out bed. I could hear the slight touch of panic in my desperate tone. "You promised you wouldn't go." He was leaving again.

"Sakura, relax," the raven-haired woman stopped me gently but I struggled against her as Syaoran's body began to dim and his hand started to melt in mine.

"No! Syaoran! Don't go!" I didn't understand. Why… Why was he leaving me?

Why didn't he want to be with me anymore?

_Sakura, _his image solidified a little bit, his fingers squeezing my hand, _I__'__ll always be here._

"No!" I could see him start to fade away. My heart raced beneath my ribs, the blood was pounding madly in my ears as my breath grew shorter and ragged. "You… You have to stay!" My eyes darted wildly as I tried to keep him with me but his arm just slipped through my fingers, like grain of sand or rivulets of water.

_Sakura, I won__'__t ever leave you._ He tried to assure me but I knew it was a lie. He was leaving because he didn't love me anymore. He didn't want to be with the girl who let him die. _You have to calm down._

Calm down? Calm down? I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to tear my hair out. Here he was, fading away, right before my eyes and he wanted me to calm down?

A small hysterical laugh bubbled from my mouth as I tried clutching at the thin air where Syaoran stood. His amber eyes were looking at me in alarm as rivulets of saltine water traced their now familiar path down my face. I was laughing and crying at the same time.

Why was he looking at me like that when he no longer cares for me? He was _leaving _me, wasn't he? Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dr. Masooma insert something into the IV bag hanging from my bedside but I couldn't bring myself to care. Moments later I found my eyes drifting close against my will.

"Syaoran…" moments before my world turned black I saw him fade from my sight completely.

-0-

_The darkness engulfed me as her presence vanished in a burst of bright light._

_She was truly gone._

_And I__…_

_I was returning to the land of the living._

And let me tell you, returning to the land of the living hurt.

My whole body felt like someone had rolled boulders over it, my muscles ached and my head pounded. And it felt as if my bed was going round and round in circles.

"Oww…" I groaned as my eyes fluttered open. Instead of a stark white ceiling, I was met with a pair of bright emerald eyes. "Sakura?" I asked in surprise as the person hovering over my face stepped away.

"You know my name?" the woman who answered was most definitely not Sakura. Or at least the Sakura I knew and had traveled with. This girl, despite sharing the same color of eyes with my princess, did not have the light caramel-colored hair or the pretty, childlike, innocent face. Don't get me wrong, she was beautiful in her own way, but just not like my princess.

This woman had shoulder length, light pink-colored hair and rather broad forehead.

"Um, no. I thought you were someone I know." I shook my head and instantly regretted my action as a wave of nausea washed over me. "Ugh… I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"I highly doubt that," I had not even noticed Kurogane standing next to the woman. "Since you have not eaten anything in the past five days."

"The feeling will go away once your magic has somewhat replenished itself." The pink-haired woman told me. "I guess there is no point in asking how you are feeling. I'm Dr. Sakura Haruno by the way." She smiled as she shone a bright light in my right eye, "do you feel any sort of pain in your shoulder or chest?" she asked as the light moved to my other eye.

"No." I answered after a moment's concentration. The ache in my muscles was dulling and the pounding had subsided. Even the lightheaded feeling that had been causing me to feel sick was fading away.

"I see." She nodded before reaching with a hand and lifting the collar of my loose white shirt. Someone had changed my clothes while I had been unconscious. I looked around a little bit and realized that I was in a hospital room. That meant my spell had worked. She lightly touched the bandages wrapped around my shoulder with a frown before mumbling. "I thought his dressings were supposed to be changed yesterday." Moments later, the door opened and a nurse stepped inside.

Dr. Sakura turned to face the brunette with a scowl. "Why haven't the patient's dressings been changed?"

"They were changed just last night ma'am." The confused nurse answered.

"Then why the hell are they covered in blood?" she whirled around and lifted the collar of my shirt once more to peak at the dressing with a worried frown. "Get me a pair of scissor, some antiseptics and a fresh role of gauze."

"What in the…" Kurogane growled from his position slightly behind her as he peeked over her shoulder. The doctor had cut through the last of the bandages. I turned my head to see what had gotten him so surprised but all that I saw was pale, unblemished skin without a trace of even a scar. My shoulder looked fine to me.

Why were they acting like it was such a big deal? Wasn't it a good thing that I healed?

Wait a second. I looked back at my shoulder. It looked _normal_. No trace of a scar. No injury. Nothing at all.

Without hesitation, Dr. Sakura cut through the bloodied gauze wrapped around my torso and once again I saw whole, unmarked skin. My wounds had healed completely. But that would have been impossible for my weakened body to accomplish in only five days unless…

"Magic." Kurogane and I spoke at the same time.

"But you are not supposed to use any of that until you have recovered." The doctor put the scissors away as her scowl deepened still.

"Not mine." I shook my head, understanding what that feeling of warmth that had accompanied the burst of bright light had actually been. "I can't use healing magic."

Her hands were enveloped in a transparent sort of green-colored aura as she hovered them a couple of inches above my body. I had seen some healers use that technique back in Celes so I was not alarmed as I felt tendrils of her gentle magic snake their way into my body. She was just checking me over for internal injuries and stuff.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she retrieved her hands a minute later.

"Your muscles have repaired themselves completely and your magic seems to have replenished itself as well." She told me. "I'll have to run a few tests later and if all turns out okay, I think you can be discharged tomorrow."

"That's good to hear." I smiled despite myself. "Ne, Kuro-tan, where is Sakura-chan?" I looked over at the ghost of my red-eyed friend.

"The room next to yours." He answered gruffly.

"Kuro-tan?" Dr. Sakura repeated in confusion before a look of comprehension dawned on her face. "You mean Kurogane's spirit is in here?"

"Yes," I nodded as I pushed myself into a more comfortable sitting position. "Can't you see him?"

"No, unfortunately I do not share Dr. Masooma's or yours gift to see the departed." She shook her head.

"So Sakura-chan… Is she alright?" I asked feeling somewhat hesitant. What if my magic had not been enough? What if I had failed? What if… _Stop it._ I mentally berated myself. _Didn__'__t Kurogane just tell you she is in the next room? She wouldn__'__t be there if she wasn__'__t alive. _"How is she?"

"She woke up a couple of days ago. She is in no immediate danger and her injuries are healing quite nicely." Dr Sakura told me as she gathered her things. "Now, you will excuse me. I will drop by in the afternoon to take you for the tests. In the meanwhile, if you need anything, press that red button over by your bedside to call a nurse. Have a nice day." And then she walked out the door with a graceful gait.

"How is Syaoran-kun doing?" I asked Kurogane once the doctor's footsteps had faded away.

"He'll make it out," he spoke as he sat down on the side of my bed. "It's the princess that has me worried."

"Why?" The alarm was clear in my tone.

"She's falling apart." He answered solemnly. "The kid… he did something to save her life."

"What? What did he do?" I couldn't handle all the suspense. What had happened while I was off in dreamland?

"His spiritual energy now supports her life." He answered bluntly, I could see him clench his fists by his sides but my mind went reeling as soon as those words reached my ears.

_Supports her life__…_

_Her life__…_

Sakura-chan had almost _died_. My skin turned cold and clammy as I realized just how close I had come to losing the only living person I cared about. She had almost crossed over to the spiritual plane.

But then the rest of Kurogane had told me registered in my mind.

Syaoran's spiritual energy supports her life. But that must mean.

"He doesn't have a lot of time left." The ghost of my friend spoke the words that I was forcing myself not to say.

"Does Sakura-chan know about this?" I asked quietly.

"No."

"And-"

"The kid knows though." He cut in. "And he refuses to tell her about it. He's hell-bent on staying by her side."

"He _does_ love her." I whispered softly as if this was explanation enough for everything he did. As a matter of fact it was.

"I know." He sighed, "And he is just as much of an idiot as you."

"What do you mean?" I asked with feigned ignorance.

"You almost killed yourself." He growled, his crimson orbs burning with anger and, if I wasn't mistaken, worry.

"Almost." I smiled sadly.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother." He shook his head and looked away.

"Cuz that's what good daddies do." I teased him, hoping to lighten the mood. Even though his murderer was dead for sure, Kurogane was still hanging around. He was putting off having to move on to the other side till he was sure his small makeshift family would be alright. I wondered what was going on with Syaoran and Sakura right now.

I pressed the button that Dr. Sakura had told me about and only a minute later a red-haired nurse was poking her head though the door.

"Yes?" she asked as she stepped inside.

"I was wondering if I could perhaps visit my younger sister?" I asked with a charming smile plastered on my face; it was completely fake but she did not know that. "Dr. Sakura told that she is in the room next to mine." Actually, Kurogane had given me that piece of information but it was better if I told her that the doctor was the one who had shared that with me.

"I'll have to ask the doctor." She said as she stepped outside and let the door close behind her.

"What are you planning mage?" Kurogane growled as he observed me through narrowed eyes.

"I think it's time we had a little talk with Syaoran."

"You are allowed to visit her, but she is resting at the moment." The nurse announced as she came back inside. Kurogane grunted something unintelligible as he followed me and the nurse to Sakura's room.

Just like the nurse had said, she was sleeping but Syaoran was not by her side. I thanked the nurse and stepped inside, taking in a deep breath as I closed my eyes and opened up my mind. I could feel the faint wisplike remnants of Syaoran's spirit. Immediately I set to work, a complex set of symbols and commands running through my head as my magic emerged from the tips of my fingers in its corporeal from of Celesian runes.

The blue glowing characters whirled around the room, latching onto the dissipating wisps of Syaoran's aura that I had felt not moments before. The ribbons then spun closer and closer, tighter and faster until in a flash of pale blue light, Syaoran's slightly translucent form stood before us.

"Fai-san." He exclaimed, a look of utter surprise pasted on his see-through face.

"Hmm… need a bit more magic." I mumbled, once again performing the spell. This time, when the light faded, Syaoran was more solid. "That's much better." I nodded in satisfaction.

"Hello, Syaoran-kun."

_**A/N: There is a reason for the way Sakura is acting the way she is. I've tried to depict her mental state as accurately as I could. If you find something lacking do tell me. **_

_**How do you think she will act when she finds out what Syaoran is currently refusing to tell her? Given her current state of mind not very accepting, won't you agree?**_

_**So until next time. **_

_**-Nims.**_

_**PS: I got 151 reviews so far, can you help me reach my new goal of 175 before the end? **_

_**Oh yes, I'm quite greedy. ;) ;)**_


	27. Chapter 26

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've been really busy lately, what with the finals approaching and all. But here is the update, just as promised. **_

_**I hope you enjoy it, cuz this is the last chapter of Dead, a happy ending though. At least I tried to make it one.**_

_**Don't forget to leave a review.**_

Sakura was discharged from the hospital the following week when Dr. Masooma- who was this world's version of the one I knew- declared that she was fit enough to go home.

Physically at least.

Sakura's mental state disturbed me greatly. Syaoran's death had been something that had shaken her to the very core. She acted like her normal cheery self most of the time but there were moments when she would have panic attacks. It was moments like these that made me wish that I had the power to resurrect the dead so that I could bring Akira back and maybe kill her a thousand times over.

Sakura and Syaoran did not deserve to be torn apart like this. Syaoran still refused to tell Sakura about his condition, although he no longer vanished like he had been doing for the first five days when me and Sakura had been in the hospital.

But he knew he had to tell her soon. I had made him promise me that when he had begged me to not tell Sakura about it. He was just as scared as she was. He did not want to leave her behind but this world was for the living. A spirit could live here for only so long before it began to fade away. In Syaoran's case, the fading was happening at an exponential rate. He only had six weeks to move on before his spirit would just vanish forever.

And today happened to be the second last day of those six weeks.

Once she was discharged from the hospital, Sakura had developed a strange clingy attitude towards Syaoran. I suppose she needed the assurance of feeling his hand in her own to know that he would stay with her. But that was about to end.

"Syaoran," I spoke quietly, aware of the sleeping princess clutching on to his hand, "when exactly do you plan on telling her?"

"You know you don't have much time left." Kurogane added as he came and stood by me.

Syaoran dropped his gaze, watching the slow, steady rise and fall of Sakura's chest as he spoke.

"I was hoping that I might never have to tell her." he admitted in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Damn it kid!" Kurogane growled. "She is going to find out about by tomorrow no matter what. Why don't you spare her the pain and tell her yourself."

I saw Syaoran's set his jaw stubbornly.

"You can't stop it from happening Syaoran-kun." I sighed sadly, "it's going to happen whether you like it or not. I've seen you having trouble maintaining a corporeal form since last week. Yet you refuse. How do you think she will feel once she finds out about it?"

"I promised I would always be by her side." he answered persistently.

"You can't keep all your promises Syaoran-kun. I'm sorry that this happened but if you stay here, you'll vanish for good."

"…" he closed his eyes as he refused to meet my stare. Or Kurogane's for that matter.

"It's not fair." His voice cracked ever so slightly.

"I know Syaoran-kun," I couldn't look at his defeated face either, "I know." I, too, was watching the princess sleep peacefully, unaware of everything else happening around her. "And I'm sorry but..."

I trailed of when Sakura mumbled something before she snuggled closer to his hand with a contented sigh.

"I'll tell her about it tonight." He said after a long time.

"I'm really sorry Syaoran-kun." I whispered as I turned on my heels and exited the room. Kurogane followed closely behind.

-0-

_I hate you! _I could hear Sakura's angry screams as she yelled at Syaoran in her room. And knowing the boy, I knew he would be listening to her as quietly and as respectfully as possible. _You promised me you would stay. You __**promised**__ me! _

Syaoran remained silent.

_Go on then. _She shrieked, _Leave me. I don't want to see you again._

The door to her room opened and Sakura appeared in the doorway. Her choked sobs were loud in the wake of the silence that followed her angry outburst. Without sparing a glance in our direction, she raced past us, wrenching the door to the apartment open as she raced outside.

A couple of minutes later, Syaoran emerged from the room, his head hung low in defeat as he walked up to Kuro-tan who occupied the sofa same as me.

_We should leave Kurogane-san._ He spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Kid," Kurogane growled like he always does when he is irritated.

_She doesn't want me around._ He mumbled softly.

I saw Kurogane get to his feet as his right hand tightened to a fist. Since Syaoran was looking down, he did not see it coming.

Wham!

The startled seventeen year old ghost looked up at his mentor.

"You're being an idiot." Kurogane stated simply.

_I'm sorry._ The boy apologized as he lowered his head once more, looking just about ready to give up on everything.

"Syaoran-kun." He raised his head meet my gaze. "How about I talk to her?" I suggested kindly as I got to my feet.

"I'm sure Sakura-chan will come around," I patted him on the shoulder, "just give her some time." Without waiting for his answer or reaction, I walked towards the hallway and stepped over the threshold, letting the door shut behind me.

I looked around for a little while before walking towards the right, towards the stairs that led to the roof of the building.

Sakura sat huddled on one of the cemented water tanks, her legs drawn up to her chest, arms looped around them as her head rested on her knees. Her eyes were bloodshot and her pale cheeks glistened with tear tracks in the silver light of the moon. Her hair were fluttering about her face in the gentle breeze as silent sobs wracked her slim frame.

Wordlessly I jumped and landed neatly on the solid ground next to her. She did not acknowledge my presence as she stared at the glittering yellow lights of the city spread out below us. Understanding her need for silence, I sat down without making a single sound, watching the same sight she was.

Minutes ticked by as she sobbed and wept noiselessly and I just stayed next to her.

"Fai-san?" she addressed me in a hollow voice, her eyes still trained on the nightlights of the city.

"Yes Sakura-chan?"

"Am I a selfish person?" she asked quietly, still not looking at me.

"Why would you say that?"

"Isn't it selfish of me to want to keep him with me?" she echoed the question I myself had once asked. She turned her head to lock her jade-eyed gaze with mine, "Doesn't it make me a bad person to not let him go?"

"No," I shook my head after a while, wiping the tear trails from her cheeks with my forefinger, "It's perfectly human." I repeated the same answer that I had received because now I understood. My gaze travelled down to her looping hands.

"It's just…" I saw her fingers dig into the palms of her hand as she spoke, "I-I… I can't bear the thought of a life with him… not being a part of it."

I did not interrupt her then. She still had something to say.

"It's not fair… I don't want him to go away."

"I never really told you about this," I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair, "I used to have an apprentice in Celes. She was an amazing person. Hardworking. Intelligent. Bright." I smiled despite myself, a small chuckle escaping my lips as I spoke, "Stubborn beyond belief. Her name was Masooma. Ashura-ou gave me the job of tracking down a gang of serial killers. Their targets were mainly magicians. I managed to capture all but one of them. The killers were tried and punished for their crimes."

Sakura did not utter a single word but I knew she was listening.

"The one who escaped," I said, "was Akira." I saw her eyes widen at this revelation but I paid no mind to that. "She was out for revenge and the best way for her to get to me was through someone I held dear. She kidnapped Masooma."

"What happened?" she asked in a small voice when I did not say anything else.

"She tortured her for days, giving me small clues on where I could find her but every time I got close to finding her, Akira would change the place. By the time I found them it was too late. She died in my arms."

"I'm sorry." She whispered, hiding her face behind her auburn bangs as she lowered it.

"It's alright." I replied, letting my gaze travel to the silver orb that hung in the sky. A cool breeze blew across my face. "For a long time, I blamed myself for her death. Akira used a spell to destroy her spirit before it could move on and I was devastated. Masooma didn't deserve it but it still happened to her."

"I didn't find out about that until six weeks ago when we went after that witch, but Masooma survived somehow or well her spirit did at least."

"When I discovered that her spirit was still here," I locked my eyes with Sakura's, "I didn't want to let her go."

She looked away, as though she knew where I was headed with this. She most probably did.

"We nearly died that night, Sakura-chan. You and I." I clarified quickly, "But she and Syaoran-kun fought against Akira's magic, leaving me enough strength to get us all to a hospital. Still the drain of having to prevent you from dying and stop Kurogane from disappearing, was something that could have killed me. Only it didn't. Do you know why Sakura-chan?"

"She saved you?" she asked quietly.

"Not only did she save me, she gave Syaoran the means to save you." I answered. "Syaoran-kun was so afraid to lose you; he connected your life to his own spiritual energy."

Sakura's eyes widened on hearing that. So my suspicions were correct. He had not told her about this.

"This saved your life but it also greatly reduced the time he could spend in this world." I continued, pretending to not have noticed her shock. "Still he struggled with all his might to be there for you. He didn't want you to know about any of this but he promised to tell you someday when I threatened that I would tell you if he didn't."

"You know," I chuckled at the memory, "he _shouted_ at both me and Kuro-tan when we had threatened to forcefully send him to the next world himself if he did not go willingly."

"He said he promised to stay by your side as long as you wished." I put a hand on her shoulder forcing her look back at me as I gave her a soft smile. "And I don't doubt it for even a second Sakura-chan. He will continue to fulfill that promise regardless of what becomes of him."

She remained frozen where she was, her mouth slightly open, lips parted as she breathed through her mouth, her eyes glistening with fresh tears yet they did not spill over this time.

"Why…" she hesitated as if trying to decide what she wanted to know, "Why did he say that he had to leave tomorrow?" she asked softly.

"Because tomorrow is the last day he can cross over," I replied, "if he stays any longer than that, he'll vanish completely."

She drew in a sharp breath as the dams broke once more. Her whole body quivered beneath my finger as she wept.

-0-

He will vanish…

Vanish…

I felt like hitting myself. How could I have done this to him?

He loved me enough to put his own _existence_ at line for my sake and here I was demanding him to make promises to stay by my side.

I… I couldn't do this to him.

"Fai-san," I spoke as I climbed to my feet, wiping the tears from my face with the back of my hand. I jumped to the roof from the tank and gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

He returned it with an enigmatic smile of his own before I turned around. "You are welcome Sakura-chan."

"Sakura-chan." He stopped me just as I stepped down the first stair, "could you send Kuro-tan up here?"

"Sure." I replied as I raced down the steps. I knew what I had to do.

Kurogane-san was sitting alone on the sofa when I reentered the apartment.

"Fai-san asked you to join him on the roof." I told him as I tried to locate Syaoran.

I sensed his aura in my bedroom so I headed that way, quietly opening the door and stepping inside. He was sitting by the windowsill, watching the moon that peeked out from behind a cloud. He appeared lost in deep thought since he did not notice me enter the room.

Silently I observed his profile. His messy chocolate-colored hair were falling into his eyes, his face slightly turned away from me but I could still see the profound sadness and utter heartbreak etched into his features. My own heart clenched painfully when I realized that I was the cause for his pain.

_I hate you._ Oh God. I had yelled at him. I had never yelled at anyone in my entire life, if you don't consider Touya-niisan that is, but that's beside the point. I had yelled at my most precious person and not only that, I had told him that I hated him.

I took a hesitant step in his direction but he gave no acknowledgement of my presence. Wordlessly I took another step and then another and another till I was standing just a couple of feet away from him.

"Syaoran?" I asked uncertainly. I had hurt him. The one person who had given up everything or my sake and I had hurt him.

_O-oh, Sakura-hime,_ he whirled around, his amber eyes dark with dread,_ I'm sorry. I'll go._

Swiftly, he tried to make his way past me, his head lowered as though afraid to look at my face.

"Wait!" I grabbed his arm, halting his attempt to leave.

_Hime?_ He expression was one of bewilderment, a spark of hope lightening his orbs but I could see the apprehension in them too. He wasn't looking directly at me though.

"I'm so sorry," I cried, throwing my arms around him, no doubt greatly shocking him. I felt his body stiffen in my embrace, "I didn't mean what I said."

_Sakura?_ That hesitancy, that uncertainty, it was still there in his tone and when I looked up, I saw a small frown gracing his lips as he looked anywhere but at me.

"I don't hate you," I tightened my hold around him, afraid that the minute I let go, he really would do what I had told him to do earlier.

Leave.

He made no attempt to move but he didn't relax either.

"I'm sorry I hurt you so much. I didn't mean what I said before." I said earnestly, "I don't hate you Syaoran. I don't think I can ever do that. Even if I wanted to."

Finally, his jaded amber orbs met mine, fully trusting but still afraid that I might have a change of heart at the last minute. My heart started pumping faster and harder as I stood on slightly tipped-toes, lightly brushing my lips against his.

"I love you, Syaoran," I kissed him, "and nothing in this world or the next can change that."

I could feel him smile as he encircled his arms around my waist.

_Thank you. _He whispered gratefully against my ear before he moved to cover my mouth with his. I closed my eyes, feeling the butterflies in my stomach as I lost myself in the feel of his soft, cold yet warm lips.

-0-

_**A/N: And that's it for now. But not to worry, there is still a epilogue to wind thing up. ;)**_

_**What? You really didn't think I would leave it incomplete, did you?**_

_**Review if you thought this was the end.**_

_**Review if you didn't think this was the end.**_

_**Review if you thought, there is no way I am going to let her live with that crappy ending (before you read my note that is.)**_

_**Review if you…**_

_**Oh what the heck. Just leave a review. ;)**_

_**Keep your fingers crossed for the epilogue people.**_

_**The next and the last update for this story all depends on how soon I can reach my newest goal that was mentioned in the previous chapter. ;) ;)**_


	28. Epilogue

_**A/N: This my friends is what I promised you all.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

"…and so the next day they said their goodbyes and the boy and his guardian left."

"But couldn't he stay with her for a little bit longer?" little Anya asked, her innocent eyes wide as she pouted.

"He could but then he would have disappeared," she answered with a soft chuckle, her emerald eyes sparkling with life.

"But the princess did not want that."

"No she didn't" I heard her agree, "So she let him go."

"But that's not a very happy ending." Anya crossed her arms as her little brow furrowed in confusion. Her chocolate-colored hair caught the last rays of the setting sun as the blood-red rays filtered into the room.

"Oh but the story is not finished yet." Her tinkling laughter echoed across the halls.

"Really?" Anya gave a wide grin, a couple of her front teeth missing. She had lost her milk teeth only last week. In an accidental fall from the tree she was climbing and had cried a lot. But the tooth fairy had visited her and she was all sunshine and rainbows once again.

"Yes," Sakura answered, "They still have to meet each other again."

The young princess looked expectantly at the older one but the latter just shook her head. "That is a story for another time. Now it is time for this little princess to get to bed."

"But I wanna know what happens next." The young girl tried giving her an innocent puppy pout.

"Anya, it's time for bed." A handsome brown haired man with intense stormy grey eyes strode into the room, dressed in regal robes.

"But Otuo-san," the seven year old princess turned the force of her pout on her father.

"Come now Anya, Obaa-san needs to rest."

Hearing this, her own grey-eyes, that she had inherited from her father, looked at Sakura only now noticing her tired face, though Sakura's eyes still sparkled.

"Okay. Goodnight Obaa-san," she ran towards the bed where the elderly woman lay, hugging her tightly before bouncing off the bed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Anya," Sakura patted her head with a wrinkled hand as the princess beamed at her before bounding out of the room.

"Okaa-san," the grey-eyed man sat down on the side of her bed, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Shiroi," she gave him a tired smile.

"Are you sure?" he asked one more time, worry etched onto his features.

"It's alright," she smiled again, softly. They way she always does when she doesn't want others to worry about her. No matter how old she gets, she'll never change.

"But Fai oji-san-" he started to say but she cut him off. "I know. But it's not like I won't see him again."

-0-

_The warm rays of the sun hit my face the minute I stepped out of the building. I cast one look over my shoulder towards the one place that had been my home for almost a year if not more. _

_I knew this was the last time I was going to be looking at that structure. After all we were leaving today. With Syaoran and Kurogane having moved on and Akira having been dealt with, we could finally go too._

_But first, I had to find Sakura. I had an idea of where she might be but I decided to wander around for a little while since I also knew why she would be there. After a couple of hours of aimless walking, I finally decided to head towards my final destination. _

_I walked past a woman with her ten year old son near the gates, the boy clutching a bouquet of white flowers in his hands as they too made their way down the well kept path. I found her exactly where I knew I had thought she would be. Standing near the mound of freshly dug earth. There were flowers near the grave marker. And little wreath resting on top of the marker itself._

"_He's finally at peace," she whispered when I stopped just a couple of feet away from her._

"_Yes." I smiled a little, watching his final resting place. "He is."_

_She had finally come here. When she was discharged from the hospital, Syaoran's spirit had been with her. And she had refused to come here all this time for that very reason. She refused to believe it. Or rather she felt like if she came here, it would make the truth undeniable. He could never go back to the way he was._

_She wanted him with her._

_I could understand that._

_And I suppose so did Syaoran._

_And Kurogane._

_But now seeing her here, I couldn't help but smile._

_She was no longer running away from reality._

_She was finally ready._

"_It's not like you'll never meet him again," I said, stepping closer to stand by her side._

"_I know." She nodded, her eyes strangely dry but they were no longer dull and lifeless. "We'll meet again someday."_

"_And knowing Syaoran-kun," I chuckled lightly, "he'll be waiting for you."_

_A smile graced her lips as she looked at me._

-0-

"You can come out now, Fai-san," I heard her soft voice. Looking up I realized that she was alone. Shiroi, her adopted son and current ruler of Clow had left while I had been reminiscing. We had left for Clow that day. Touya of course had been overjoyed to see his little sister, even if he didn't show it. He had been a little surprised to not see Syaoran by her side.

Sakura still got upset but those times were few and far in between. And after the king of Clow, Touya had learnt of everything that had happened, he had been right there by her side, same as me. Offering comfort to our distraught princess.

But she finally got over it all. She didn't marry of course and when the question of heirs for the throne arose, Shiroi had been the lucky boy that was adopted by the kind princess. Touya never pressurized his sister to marry some prince from one of the neighboring countries and Shiroi was treated like his own nephew.

He had handed over the throne to Sakura once she was twenty-five. Said that was what his 'little monster' was supposed to do anyways.

"Hello Sakura-chan." I gave her my usual cheery grin as I stepped through the curtains walked over to her bed. She looked so frail and tired with long, grey hair, loose wrinkled skin but her eyes were still twinkled and her lips still stretched into that heartwarming smile.

She might have grown, but for me, she always the little Sakura-chan I had travelled with. The same Sakura I had comforted innumerable times, including that time five years ago, when Touya had passed on in his sleep.

"Why are you still here?" I missed the smile she always gave me when she saw me. She was openly frowning at me.

"What?" I gasped in mock-hurt, "Sakura-chan doesn't like to see me anymore."

"It's not that Fai-san," she shook her head, her lips upturning at my antics despite her continuous struggles to keep them straight. "You shouldn't be here."

I look away, watching instead the grand twin tower like ruins, standing proudly in the desert. The ruins. The place where everything started.

"Fai-san." She sighed.

"I didn't want to leave," I admitted. "You'd be all alone then."

"Weren't you the one that once said I would meet everyone again?"

I said nothing. Because I knew what she wanted. But like I had admitted all those years ago.

I'm selfish.

If I left now, she would truly be alone. I couldn't do that. Not to her. Not to my princess.

"I won't be long." She smiled.

"Sakura-chan…"

"Tell Syaoran I said hi. The same with Kurogane-san, Tomoyo-chan and Touya nii-san."

I could only stare at her while she kept on giving me that contented smile.

"You should go now. I'm pretty sure there are people there waiting for you too."

A sense of serenity washed over me, an unknown warmth filling my entire being as I felt my surroundings fade.

"I'll see you soon."

That was the last thing she said.

-0-

_A relaxed sigh escaped my lips as I slept. Suddenly I felt like I was floating. Flying. Away from all the worries. The pains. Away from everything._

_It was suddenly like I was liberated. No longer bound to this earth but completely free. Like a bird. Like something that was no longer bound by restrictions. I was soaring among the stars. Millions of beautiful, sparkling diamonds all around me. Lighting my way as I glided past them. towards my destination._

_A familiar warmth was enveloping my heart the closer I got. I could feel him. _

_He was there. _

_Waiting for me._

_Just like he had promised._

_Just like he had promised me all those years ago._

_I had kept my own promise to him. I had lived my life to the fullest. So it came as no surprise to me when I realized that he was still waiting for me._

_Syaoran always kept his promises after all._

_I feel the serenity and the peace, the happiness wash over me. The warmth enveloping me as the world grew smaller. I smiled._

_I was finally there. Looking down at my feet I could see the pitch black floor, littered with the billions and billions of sparkling gems, the most beautiful and breathtaking assortments and arrangements, colorful glowing clouds of gas, the spiral discs formed by clusters of heavenly bodies. _

_There were fluffy, wispy clouds swirling around my feet, every step I took would send them forming beautiful spirals with sometimes the stars twinkling and shining right inside them. There was a soft, glow everywhere. I looked above and I could see a sparkling azure sky, with stunning spiral shaped glowing orbs providing the light._

_It was then that I heard him._

_That voice I had waited so long to hear again._

Sakura.

_My heart stilled as everything around me froze._

_The sky, the stars, the clouds, everything._

_Slowly, hesitantly, I turned around and there he was._

_Smiling warmly and tenderly, just the way he used to. His beautiful amber eyes were full of love and tenderness as he gazed at me._

_My breath caught in my throat as I just stood there. Gaping at him like an idiot. But I couldn't help it._

_He was finally there._

_I mean I was finally here._

_Or maybe we both were._

Syaoran?_ My own voice sounded so uncertain to my ears. But he kept smiling. _

_He never vanished. He never disappeared._

_I rubbed my eyes and I think I heard him laugh._

_I wasn't dreaming._

_This was real._

You're here._ I breathed._

I promised I'd wait for you.

_Without waiting to hear another word, I launched at him, bringing him to ground with me; the white smoke drifting away in the curly wisps like before._

You're here._ I repeated myself, feeling the reassuring firmness of his muscles beneath my skin. He earthen like scent assaulted my nose as I buried my face in his chest, hugging him laughing and crying at the same time. I was mumbling like an incoherent idiot. But I couldn't care less._

_We were finally together. And nothing could separate us again._

_Ever._

I've missed you._ I whispered, finally looking up to meet his gaze, tears of joy still streaming down my face. _I've missed you so much.

I've missed you too._ He answered, his honest gaze burning me._

_We both stayed in that position, doing nothing. Just drinking in each others' presence. _

_He leaned towards me just as I leaned towards him, our eyes never leaving the others'. Everything in the world felt just right at that moment. _

_This was it. _

_The happy ending I had promised my granddaughter that the princess in the stories I told her would have._

_And as we kissed, I knew that no other ending could have been more perfect._

-0-

"Aww, wouldn't you say that is the cutest thing you have ever seen." Cooed Tomoyo as she watched her old friends reunite after so many years.

"Tch, sure." Kurogane grunted from his place next to her.

"Sure they do." Touya rolled his eyes at the same time, as he crossed his arms watching the heartwarming scene play out before him.

"Hyuu." Fai's fake whistle resonated in the still air. "They still look so good together."

"You got that right." Masooma laughed along with him.

None of them moved to greet the princess. There was eternity ahead of them all for catching up and greeting her. For now, they were all just content with the way things were.

After all, why ruin something so wonderful and utterly perfect?

No.

For now.

They would let the two long separated lovers reunite.

-0-

_**A/N: To those who have been with Dead since its beginnings, to those who joined along the way, to those who might read it after its completion and to those who have followed my writings from previous stories….**_

_**Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.**_

_**This is the final chapter of Dead. The epilogue. (A happy ending where everyone dies. :D )**_

_**As much as it saddens me to say this, this my dear friends is the end. I love you all for all your words of encouragement and the wonderful reviews.**_

_**Once again, Thanks me amigos.**_

_**This is Nims Dias-angelovdarkness.**_

_**PS. If you guys loved this story then please go ahead and check out a few of my other fics. "Shattered Secrets" is most probably gonna be the one that will be updated regularly but not to worry, I haven't forgotten about the other fics either so expect updates on most of them since I my friends am now, FREEEEE!**_

_**For two whole months. Oh Yeah! Vacations are here! ***__**dances a little**__*** Excuse the weirdness on my part cuz seriously people I am very excited. No more waking up early in the morning for me. :D**_

_**Ciao!**_


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